Death Note Legacies first draft
by Me1222
Summary: They thought that the murders would stop. That Kira no longer being alive meant the end of the battle. There would be no way of him continuing his killing spree from beyond the grave, no trick for him to make it so that death wouldn't stop him... they were wrong. Note: Slightly alternate continuity, Misa is still alive after 2011 in this. Will be rewritten and finished later.
1. The fallen note

In the shinigami realm, the viewing hole into the shinigami realm had often been a good source of entertainment. But the entertainment was often short lived. On January 8th 2014, the entertainment started again when a single shinigami had its eye caught by a specific town.

The American town of Uccisore housed Sparpire high school, which was filled with all sorts of people. One of them, Sliver Andrews, a 17 year old, was walking through the school grounds, about to head inside for his next lesson. His head was troubled by where he'd find himself in years to come. A black haired girl he recognised as Katie Smith passed by him. She had only transferred into the school recently but had stunned everyone with her perfect grades.

Sliver turned his head at the sound of something hitting the floor. It was a black notebook. He looked at Katie, who turned and looked back. He picked it up.

"Does this belong to you?" he asked, trying to keep his eyes away from her skirt.

"You sure are funny, Sliver" she replied, smiling at the notebook as if seeing something he couldn't. She took it from him.

"What are you two doing loitering about? Get to class! Sliver, with me" a stern man ordered. Sliver narrowed his eyes at him. Simon Strict, the most notoriously strict teacher in the school. And Sliver had history with him. Oh joy.

"I have him next lesson" Katie said as she wrote something in the notebook.

"You what...?" Sliver asked, as if she had spoken another language.

"This instant, Sliver Andrews, or you'll be eating lunch in my room" he walked inside and Sliver followed him with a sigh.

"And you can stop sighing, too" Strict said as he came through the door of his class room, then grunted in pain as he clutched his chest and fell on his face.

"Whoa, his old age is finally taking a toll on him" one of the students, Joe, commented.

"Move it, old man" Sliver said as he stepped inside and kicked Strict in the ribs. He heard the classroom going "Oooooh" and knew that if Strict was conscious, he'd be in for it. But Strict wasn't conscious. He was still. Very still.

"Uh, guess we should do something..." Joe added.

Sliver knelt beside Strict and felt his neck. No pulse.

"The bastard's dead" he concluded.

A swarm of students came over to test this analysis and Sliver went out the door.

"I'll go tell someone!" he said, then went down the hallway to try to find Katie. He heard a shriek and a thump from behind a classroom door. He looked in through the door's glass pane and saw the female teacher lying cold. He turned his head to gaze across the desks and saw Katie sitting with the notebook in front of her.

Sliver burst into the room and ran towards Katie. The other students barely noticed him enter, they didn't even regard it as strange. Not with their teacher's corpse in front of them. Sliver stopped in front of her desk.

"Give me that notebook, now" he said.

"Finders keepers" Katie started writing 'Sliver Andrews' in the notebook but he snatched it from her and ran out of the room.

Sliver made his way out of the school building and leant against the outside wall, taking some time to read the front cover of the book-the 'Death Note'. His suspicions were correct. There was something very sinister, very deadly about the notebook. He opened it and saw the first rule 'The human whose name is written in this note shall die.' He realised that Katie may come after him and ran across the school grounds, seeing the people dotted about the place, avoiding their lessons. Katie burst from the second door of the block and intercepted him. He grabbed her shoulder and pushed her against the wall.

"Katie Smith?" he asked.

"Yeah..." she glared at him.

"See you in Hell" he pushed her to the ground then walked off, writing 'Katie Smith' into the notebook as he went. Katie got up and followed him slowly.

Sliver ended up in a forest between the school and the rest of the town, called The Line. He sat against a tree and read the rest of the rules. 'This note will not take effect unless the writer has the person's face in their mind when writing his/her name. Therefore, people sharing the same name will not be affected.' That was one which Sliver had been wondering about before. 'If the cause of death is written within 40 seconds of writing the person's name it will happen.' 'If the cause of death was not specified, the person will simply die of a heart attack.' Sliver saw that one as a no brainer. 'After writing the cause of death, details of the death should be written in the next 6 minutes and 40 seconds.'

_'The Death Note actually provides a lot of control...'_ Sliver looked into the sky _'I can do so much with this... I could even take over the world.'_

Sliver looked at the notebook again.

_'Now how do I leave the biggest impression on the world? To let them know that I mean business...' _Sliver thought for a second, then wrote 'George Sairas'.

* * *

Rester walked into Near's room in the SPK headquarters with Lidner. Near had his back turned to him as he crouched, flicking a marble against a group of them to make them all scatter.

"Near, did you hear?" Rester asked.

"I did" Near took a lock of hair in his hand and fiddled with it.

"What do you think?" Rester inquired.

"A teacher dies instantly of a heart attack. Seconds later, a student is seen running in and taking a notebook..." Near mused "Then minutes later, the president of the United States dies of a heart attack. Do you even need to ask? It's another Kira."


	2. Making their moves

Sliver sat in The Line for a while, back against a tree, wondering what next to do with his power. He could get fame, fortune, girls, anything he wanted. And the last on the list was the one he wanted first. Sliver thought of the attractive girls in his school that he had seen and Lolly Jess appeared in his mind. She was also obscenely popular and only went out with people in her 'league'-not Sliver, in other words. With the power of the Death Note at his fingertips however, Sliver was confident that he could sway her to his side. He got to his feet and started walking.

* * *

Once he was in town, with the sun beginning to set, he could see the public fretting over the television sets in the windows reporting the death of the president. Everybody was talking about it, panicked. Already, Sliver had made a huge impact. He was glad but also shocked by his own power. He stopped outside a building with a sign saying 'Club Crescent'. He had heard Lolly saying she was going there the other day. He opened the door, briefly letting the music and lights escape, then went inside.

He looked around. There was a huge amount of space but almost every bit of it was taken up by somebody. The song was blaring into his ears but Sliver still didn't listen. He sifted through the crowd, trying not to lose his footing as people unintentionally bumped into him.

* * *

Outside, every television monitor, including huge ones mounted on the sides of buildings, suddenly bore the 'L' insignia. Everyone turned their attention to it.

"About the president's death... well, it was a murder, by a rather idiotic Kira. I-Kira, we'll say," Near said, his voice scrambled "While his movements are rash and stupid, make no mistake about it. He's a diabolical, cold blooded killer."

* * *

"Hey, watch it!" Sliver heard someone said, as he was shoved forwards again. Death Note or no, it wasn't helping him here. However, salvation was in sight. He could see Lolly and her insanely popular boyfriend, Greg Briggs, ahead. They were dancing, although Greg was trying to make moves on Lolly rather than bust his own.

* * *

"However, I have him in my sights," Near continued "And I will close in on him. In fact, I already am doing just that."

* * *

Sliver approached the pair, confident in the notebook he had hidden in his jacket.

"The hell?" Greg turned his head and saw him "Where'd Sliver come from?"

* * *

"I've already entered I-Kira's area of residence, Uccisore. I've deduced that he attends Sparpire High," Near went on "And so that he can't escape, a perimeter has been set up around the town."

* * *

"Get out of here, Sliver," Greg told him "You didn't even bring any friends? Oh yeah, you don't have any."

"I'm not going any where, Greg," Sliver said "Bastard."

"I think you forgot who you're talking to" Greg smirked and approached him.

"Forget it, Greg" Lolly sighed but he had already disappeared into the crowd after him.

Sliver backed into a corner, turned away and wrote Greg's name. He went back to where Lolly was, with Greg following close behind.

"Hey, your dumbass boyfriend seems to have left you" Sliver said.

"No, I haven't" Greg replied.

"Yes, you have" Sliver responded. Almost immediately, Greg grunted in pain and clutched at his chest, then fell forwards on to the ground. Lolly's lip quivered, then she screamed.

* * *

"Well then, I-Kira..." Near uttered.

* * *

"So, Lolly...? How about you and me?" Sliver asked, trying to sound suave but Lolly ran off "Oh, guess that freaked her out..."

* * *

"I'll see you again soon" Near said, then the monitors went back to normal.

* * *

"Oh, well, I'll see her again soon," Sliver shrugged as he neared the exit, then shuddered "Ew, why does that make me feel gross?"

* * *

Lolly approached a brunette her age, sitting bored on a park bench with a miniature TV in her hand. The news program on the TV spoke of the recent deduction of Kira being in Uccisore.

"Kaylie..." for one of the few times in her life, Lolly sounded solemn. Tears streaked her face.

"Where's Greg?" Kaylie got up and hugged her.

"He... he had a heart attack..." Lolly choked "How? He's so healthy, how could that happen?"

"So, he's dead?" Kaylie asked in surprise.

"Well... I didn't check..." Lolly said "I was kind of freaked out... and... Sliver was there, being really creepy."

"Well, he did seem to wish that Greg would die" Kaylie replied.

Kaylie was often to the point about things. But that was part of why Lolly liked her. She was one of the most honest and trustworthy people she had met. But what she had said just then to Lolly caused her to be unable to speak with all the tears flowing. Lolly broke the hug.

"Kira's in Uccisore, by the way," Kaylie said "At our school, too."

"Wh-wha?" Lolly looked at her, wondering whether this was a bizarre idea of a joke.

"I'd say you need to get out more but it's because you're out so much that you didn't know" Kaylie held up her mini-TV and adjusted the volume and talk of the very thing that Kaylie had said reached Lolly's ears.

"Kira... is back...?" Lolly gaped "At our school... we could know Kira?"

"Kira kills with heart attacks and Sliver was near when Greg died," Kaylie said "You think there could be a connection there?"

"Hey... that could mean Sliver is Kira!" Lolly tried to keep her voice down, then paused "Wait, that's obvious. You asked me to tease me, right?"

"...maybe" Kaylie replied with a smirk.

"But Sliver's a total loner. He'll get caught in no time on his own" Lolly said.

"So?"

"So," Lolly finished "How about you and me see if he's really Kira for ourselves?"


	3. Crimson

Amane Misa was wandering down the street of Uccisore, her head hung low, deep in thought.

_'With Light gone, I don't have anything left... I can only hope that I somehow come across Kira here...'_ she was about to cross the street when she saw a dark red notebook fall in front of her, with 'Death Note' scrawled on to the front in white lettering.

"Hm...?" she bent down to pick it up. The moment her fingers touched the cover, it all came rushing back. Gelus' notebook being dropped down to her, coming face to face with Rem, sending the tapes to Sakura TV, meeting Light at his front door, seeing L's face and the beginning of the new world's creation.

Ryuk hovered down in front of her as she fell to her knees, looking at the ground, overwhelmed.

"How you been?" Ryuk asked.

"Ryuk!" Misa looked up at him, her expression starting to lighten but then it fell again "Light... is he dead?"

"Yeah, he's dead" Ryuk confirmed.

"So the Kira here is a different one" Misa said sadly.

"Yeah, it was a shame. I wanted a player from last time to join in" Ryuk explained.

"But... I have to see if their goals are the same as mine" Misa finished.

* * *

Before he had made his announcement about going after 'I-Kira', Near had been sitting on a desk in the classroom Sliver had supposed to be taught in that very day, holding a plastic sword in one hand two papers showing the list of students for two classes in his hand. Orange light shun in through the windows from the sun setting outside. Rester, Lidner and Gevanni waited patiently for Near's conclusion. He threw the papers in the air.

"First, Simon Strict dies," Near struck a hole by his name on the top of the first class register with the sword "Then, Annabel Watson," he struck a hole next to the name of the teacher on the top of the other class register "Two students, one from each class, then go missing."

Near skewered the two registers with his sword. He flicked the sword and the two registers landed on another desk, a hole in one name.

"It's a good thing we made copies..." Gevanni remarked.

"That one is Sliver Andrews," Near looked to the other register, the hole from his sword had just missed the name of the second person "The other is Katie Smith..."

Near took another two pieces of paper. They had photos of each members of both classes. Near took a look at Sliver's face then went to look at the other paper. He spotted the name immediately but there was a blank space above it.

"No school photo...?" Near mused.

"She was new..." Rester said "But whenever the teachers were going to arrange to take her photo she was able to dodge it."

"Must have been real camera shy. I can relate to that" Near chucked the other two papers on to the floor.

* * *

January 9th, Near was at the SPK HQ and called up the Japanese task force.

* * *

Aizawa answered his phone at the Andrews household.

"Yes?" Aizawa asked.

"Has Mr. Andrews said anything important regarding his son yet?" Near inquired.

Aizawa looked over at Matsuda trying to reason with Mr. Andrews.

"Andrews-san, please, we're just trying to find out..." Matsuda begun, his hands up in front of himself.

"Don't Andrews-san me, you Japanese bastard!" Mr. Andrews shouted "Do I look Japanese to you? You think my son is some kind of supernatural killer?"

Ide, Yamamoto and Mogi sat haplessly on the sofa to the side.

"Poor Matsuda-san..." Yamamoto said.

"Perhaps one of us should help him... Yamamoto-san" Ide suggested.

"No way! My ear drums have taken enough... and I feel like that guy almost gave me a heart attack. Are we sure he isn't Kira?" Yamamoto asked.

* * *

On January 10th, Aizawa received another phone call from Near as he sat at his desk in the temporary task force headquarters in Uccisore.

"What is it, Near?" he asked.

"I felt you should know that there have been eye witness reports of Miss Amane in the area" Near replied.

"What's she doing here...?" Aizawa wondered.

"It's most likely some sentimental reason," Near theorised "I don't think anything will come of it but I believe someone should keep an eye on her..."

"Understood. I'll have Mogi tail her for now" Aizawa decided.

"Thank you. We need to take every precaution we can" Near replied.

* * *

"So far... no matter what area that she was reported to be in I patrol, I can't see her," Mogi whispered into his coat as he stood on the street corner, walking in a resigned stride as he tried to spot Misa in the crowd "And we can't find anything about where she's staying... she's really intent on hiding."

"Keep searching, Mogi" Aizawa replied.

"Yes, sir" Mogi agreed.

* * *

Mogi's efforts to find Misa became even more hopeless once she got to her apartment and sat on her bed.

"You didn't do much today," Ryuk munched on an apple "Although you don't have anything to worry about when it comes to being followed, since you've been having manipulated criminals give you warnings about people trying to do that."

"I have to wait," Misa said "I already know that either Sliver Andrews or Katie Smith are Kira from the spying around the school building I had the criminal do but... that's not enough to track them down."

"Yeah, kind of hard when they're not at home" Ryuk agreed.

"I'll see if something else pops up" Misa explained.

She took out her Death Note and opened it up and brought up her pen, the tip barely hovering over the paper.

"I already know that the Japanese task force are responsible for... what happened to Light," Misa whispered "If I just write their names here..."

The four simple names of Aizawa Shuichi, Mogi Kanzo, Matsuda Touta and Ide Hideki would have taken seconds to write. But Misa's pen hand fell.

"Oh, what's this?" Ryuk asked "Can't bring yourself to do it?"

"Don't say that!" Misa snapped "I want them dead! I really do! But... they'd know that I have the powers of Kira again if any of them die... I have to wait before I kill them."


	4. Babble

Sliver was sat in an abandoned building in The Line, on a sofa, with the notebook resting on his knee and his pen hovering over the paper.

"Who to kill next...?" he pondered to himself

"So you write a name in the notebook and they die!?" Lolly asked, dashing into the room "That's so cool!"

"Lolly, what the hell are you doing here!?" Sliver held the notebook against himself like he had been caught reading something dirty.

"Relax, Sliver. I think Kira's cool," Lolly assured him "And it was pretty obvious that you killed Greg, let's face it."

"Yup, anyone could figure that out" Kaylie said, walking into the room sipping a mug of coffee.

"So, you know I'm Kira" Sliver relaxed.

"It's so awesome! Can I... can I go out with you?" Lolly asked.

_'Just like that, she wants to go out with me, all because I'm Kira? Well, I guess something like that had to happen for her to figure out how awesome I am,'_ Sliver thought "Hell yes, you can. I've always wanted you."

"This seems like a good time to introduce myself" Sliver turned his head towards a new, feminine voice-and came face to abdomen with a great, orange beast, cylinders shoved through its arms pumping a vile green liquid from their transparent containers into the behemoth's 'blood' stream. A horridly large version of this cylinder was running from top to bottom in the creature's torso, flesh sickeningly growing around it, spreading across it like ivy. A bright blue liquid was contained inside this particular tube. The creature was without any facial features other than two glowing, yellow eyes. Its general shape resembled a human, yet one look would tell anyone that Sliver was facing a horrible monster.

"What in the hell!?" Sliver scrambled over the back of his sofa and fell on the ground below it, then got to his feet and backed off "What the hell are you!?"

"They say power makes you go crazy," Kaylie remarked "And he seemed pretty crazy anyway, spending his free time at school in this ill-kept place."

"Sliver, darling, what's wrong?" Lolly went to his side, ignoring Kaylie's comment.

"Don't you see that thing?" he pointed at it.

"They can't see me unless they touch the notebook," the creature told him "I'm Cilly the shinigami by the way, nice to meet you."

"Uh..." Sliver held out the Death Note "You can see it if you touch the notebook, apparently..."

Lolly touched the notebook then screamed and hid behind Sliver.

"It's a monster! Kill it, Sliver, kill it!" she shrieked. Sliver put on a face that looked brave, apart from the fact that it was covered in sweat.

"Humans can't kill shinigami, silly," Cilly told her "I'm Cilly, by the way."

Kaylie tapped the notebook and looked at Cilly.

"Hello, I'm Kaylie" she said.

"Nice to meet you, Kaylie," Cilly replied "I'm-"

"Cilly, what the hell are you doing here?" Sliver asked.

"Do I know you?" Cilly inquired.

"Wha...? No..." Sliver said.

"Listen Sliver, I'm from the magic shinigami realm in the sky," Cilly explained "I wanted to see if this place lived up to its name so I dropped my notebook and you happened to be the one to pick it up."

"That was nice of you," Kaylie said "Would you like a drink?"

"Have you got any apple juice? I could never make that stuff..." Cilly uttered.

"Coming right up," Kaylie walked into another room, then came back out with a beaker of it. She handed it to Cilly "There you go."

"You don't have a mouth" Sliver stated.

"I don't?" Cilly asked, a hole between her neck and chest forming which she poured the liquid down into.

"Well, that's unsettling" Sliver commented.

* * *

Misa was sat in her room, watching a video file that had been sent to her on her laptop.

"Thank you and goodnight, Mr. Criminal," she said to herself "This recording of the staffs' conversations shows that Sliver Andrews went missing from Sparpire shortly after the heart attacks and that of those close to him, Lolly Jess is the most likely to be his ally since she was present during a heart attack of a classmate and went missing afterwards."

"Light would be proud, using the Death Note to make criminals do your dirty work for you," Ryuk commented, sitting on the bed with his chin on his hand "But how are you gonna find this Sliver guy?"

"Simple" Misa begun to write 'Lolly Jess, heart attack, January 22nd 2014, 10: 33 AM. On January 11th 2014, 8: 50 AM, sends a letter detailing the whereabouts of I-Kira to the following address...'.

"Ooh, you're going to kill a non-criminal?" Ryuk asked.

"I-Kira is killing innocent people," Misa said "If she's working with him, I don't mind killing her."

"Couldn't you just kill this Sliver guy?" Ryuk wondered.

"I need to see if he can be helpful at all," Misa said "I'm up against a lot, after all..."

* * *

On January 11th, Misa sat back and read her newest letter.

"An abandoned building?" Misa read.

"I'd be careful of places like that" Ryuk said.

"Everyone should be. You don't have to tell me that, Ryuk" Misa replied, flippantly.

"Light died in that sort of place" Ryuk told her.

"Light..." Misa clutched the letter tighter, her nails tearing into it and her eyes tearing up "Who... who killed him?"

"I did" Ryuk said.

"Ryuk! How could you!?" Misa screamed, dropping the letter as she sprung to her feet and swung the chair at Ryuk's face but it simply phased through him.

"You can't hurt me, Misa," Ryuk said "Anyway, I only killed him when it was clear that he had lost and was gonna go to jail. It was mercy to both me and to him."

"But..." Misa dropped her chair "Wasn't he your friend...?"

"It'd feel weird calling him a friend. I've never had more respect for somebody, you see," Ryuk said "But... I did what Light would have wanted. I think Light died the moment he realised he couldn't win... Light would have known I wouldn't help him and yet he asked. It was his body acting on sheer will to live at that point. I think Light would have wanted to die if he ever got like that."

Misa stared at Ryuk, unsure of what to say.

"Man, what am I going on about?" Ryuk laughed "I must be getting old."


	5. Hooked string

An elderly woman called Vera sat at her desk in her office at Wammy's House, speaking into the microphone of her laptop.

"Yes, she knew my name without even asking," Vera said "I would say she... does have the eyes."

"...it wouldn't be the first time," Roger Ruvie's reply came from the featureless 'W' on the monitor "We have no idea how people end up with shinigami eyes without contact with a notebook. But if she's anything like the other one, she's brilliant."

"Oh, of course she is" Vera confirmed.

* * *

"Everyone, this is Olivy" Vera had her hands on the shoulders of a 4 year old girl with ash blonde hair, holding a teddy bear tightly against herself. The room filled with kids stared at her. One girl, a brunette with blue eyes dressed all in green, couldn't help but notice the new girl's habit of looking above people's heads. Nervously, Olivy squeezed the teddy tighter, causing it to speak.

"Days without you are backwards to fun!" it exclaimed.

_'Roger hates things like that...'_ Vera thought _'Why put speech into a toy that's meant to develop imagination, he'd say.'_

All but one of the kids surrounded Olivy.

"Height? Aren't you going to say hello to your new friend?" Vera asked.

"Oh, sorry," the brunette said and hugged Olivy "I was distracted by what a pretty shade of brown your eyes are."

Height stroked Olivy's ash blonde hair. Olivy squeezed her teddy.

"Oh, it would have been backwards to great to not meet you" it declared.

* * *

"Now that I know where he is I have to take a look," Misa said "But I have to get rid of anyone who might be trying to follow me... well I had some criminals hang around the places I went and send their findings to me for something like this."

Misa looked through a few more letters she received.

"Motchi is following me... or trying to," Misa continued as she put down one of the letters "I have to kill him or he'll find out where I-Kira is!"

"And you two were such good pals..." Ryuk commented as Misa opened her Death Note.

"We were but he worked against Light..." Misa said and started writing.

* * *

Misa was walking through the street, with Mogi wandering around clueless about her location.

"There's still no-" Mogi was talking into his cellphone when he stopped, grunted and fell heavily in the middle of the street. Pedestrians either rushed over or froze in shock at the sudden death but Misa simply kept walking. The faint sound of Aizawa frantically calling Mogi's name could be heard coming from the phone that lay beside Mogi's corpse. Ryuk looked back as he hovered after her.

"Too bad we never got to reunite with him" Ryuk commented.

"It would be a little hard to get them to leave me alone if they saw you following me" Misa replied.

* * *

Misa listened by a window of Sliver's base to his discussion with his new team.

"Maybe I should kill one of those flamboyant actors the girls all squeal over?" she heard him say.

"Apart from me, since you're my only" Lolly told him.

Misa grimaced and walked further into the forest, then took out her notebook. She suddenly stiffened and looked up as she felt someone grab her wrist. It was Katie Smith.

"I can understand why you'd want to kill him, Amane," Katie said "But it's better if you don't."

"Kill him? What are you talking about?" Misa held the notebook against herself defensively and looked above Katie's head _'Who is this woman...? Should I kill her?'_

"In late 2004, the Yotsuba's business begun to rise as numerous business related people died," Katie said "Amane, you begun working with them and shortly after, Higuchi Kyosuke was apprehended by the police as a Kira suspect. He was overheard talking about a notebook that kills whoever's name is written into it..."

Katie pointed at the notebook that Misa was holding.

"So that's Kira's killing power, is it?" Katie asked.

"Sure looks like somebody did their homework" Ryuk chuckled.

"...who are you?" Misa asked.

"A friend. Refer to me as Katie Smith for now, although that's not my real name..." Katie replied.

"Yes, I can see your real name..." Misa said "If you're a friend, why do you want Sliver alive? He's a sicko."

"Indeed, he is like a misshapen cog in society's machine" Katie agreed "But..."

* * *

A blond haired man sitting in a large house, surrounded by people who all had a neutral respect and fear for him took a ringing phone out of his pocket.

_'I can tell from the ringtone, it's her...!' _he smiled to himself and answered "Yes, babe?"

"Hound, could you drop by with some of your buddies?" Katie asked "Come over to..."

* * *

"What the hell's that sound?" Sliver went to the window as he heard the sounds of engines and was alarmed to see cars parked outside, with people pouring out "What's going on here!?"

"Relax, buddy," Hound said, walking in through the door by the window "You could call us Kira's personal helpers. We are The Pack."

"I won't have to serve all the refreshments, then" Kaylie sipped her coffee as she watched Hound enter.

* * *

Gevanni cautiously begun to enter The Line and reached for his phone but a gunshot rang out and he fell dead, sniped by a member of The Pack. Two other members emerged from the trees and dragged his body away.

* * *

"Wait..." Sliver walked after Hound, who was commanding his comrades around "How did you know that Kira..."

"'cause I told him that I'm here," Sliver turned around to see Misa, who was dressed like she was going to a funeral, complete with a veiled hat.

"O-oh..." Sliver looked closely at Misa and muttered "Cute..."

"What was that, Sliver?" Lolly hugged his arm.

"Nothing!" Sliver replied suddenly.

"What's going on?" Lolly asked.

"I... I don't know..." Sliver whispered "I have no idea..."


	6. Up again

Near leaned over his finger puppet of Sliver, which was standing with its back to him. Its hair was a mess, its mouth was gaping and its eyes were crooked. Near took out a super soaker and sprayed away the Mogi and Gevanni finger puppets which had been facing it.

"I-Kira's side has killed two of our men... perhaps he's better equipped than I thought" Near mused.

"Better equipped, you say?" Rester asked.

"Mr. Mogi is the one who's dead and it's far more likely that it was Miss Amane, somebody who knew him, who is the killer," Near said "And I doubt he'd be capable of killing Gevanni either..."

"But we still haven't found Gevanni's body..." Rester added, a hint of sadness in his eyes.

"What purpose could they have had for this...?" Near wondered "Perhaps... he was uncovering too much."

* * *

"So, now you know I'm Hound," Hound said as he sat opposite to Sliver, Lolly and Kaylie "Who might you three be?"

"Um, well I'm Lolly..." she looked around at the members of The Pack occupying the base, wielding guns. It was a very different atmosphere than before.

"I'm Kaylie" Kaylie said.

"And who are you?" Cilly asked.

_'She does realise Hound can't hear her, right?'_ Sliver looked up at her.

"I'm Ryuk. Pleasure to meet you" Ryuk said to Cilly.

"Cilly. I'm kind of new" Cilly replied.

_'At any rate, is it really safe to say my name to... this guy?' _Sliver wondered.

"Cat got your tongue, Sliver?" Misa asked.

_'What the...? Gangsters and a psychic? How the hell did she know my name?' _Sliver sweated _'She's posing as Kira right now and she has all these people supporting her... I can't make a movement without someone seeing me, they're crawling the place...'_

"Sliver, is it?" Hound added.

"Oh... yeah, it is" Sliver nodded.

"Since she knows your name, it looks like she has the shinigami eyes" Cilly told Sliver.

"The shinigami eyes?" Sliver whispered.

"For half of their remaining life, a human who owns a notebook can gain eyes that let them see people's names and lifespans just by looking at their face," Cilly explained "It's great if you're bad with names."

_'So does she really have a notebook...? Does that mean another shinigami got involved? But why here? What's her aim? But if I make any move or say anything... it could be fatal'_ Sliver worried.

"We have to get L... or rather, Near and his lackeys over here so we can kill them" Misa explained.

* * *

Katie was sitting in a chair in an upstairs room of Sliver's base, looking out the window. Hound walked in and she turned her head towards him.

"It's going perfectly," Hound held out his hand. Katie was bemused but took it and he pulled her to her feet "They're confused and completely cornered."

Hound sat where Katie had been and took both her wrists, sitting her on his lap with her back facing him.

"I can't thank you enough" Katie said, in the sweetest sounding voice she could manage.

"You don't need to thank me at all" Hound kissed the top of her head.

_'Great, more of his obsession with the taste of hair. I'll put up with it though...'_ Katie rolled her eyes.

* * *

Near turned his head to the familiar sound of beeping as a cloister black 'A' insignia appeared on a monitor displaying a white screen.

"Mr. Aizawa, what is it?" Near asked.

"We received some very specific demands for the remaining SPK and Japanese task force members to come to a certain location... for a confrontation for Kira. We're allowed to bring as much back up as we like as long as we attend..." Aizawa said.

"How are we supposed to be sure of its validity?" Near inquired.

"The person who rung the station, making this request..." Aizawa continued "Was Amane Misa."

"Near, this means..." Rester uttered.

"It is more than possible that Amane Misa now has the powers of Kira once again," Near finished, sliding a Misa finger puppet over to the finger puppets of the Japanese task force, the SPK and Sliver "No, to make a request like this is as good as a confession..."

"The request specified that we are allowed to cover our faces but it must be clear that we are who we claim we are," Aizawa continued "Also, it was claimed that hostages are being held at the location where the confrontation will take place."

"We are who we claim we are... everyone had the opportunity to be sighted by Amane..." Near recalled.

"Except you..." Lidner added.

"Perhaps not," Near retorted "The second L had a sketch of me and probably scanned it into his computer at some point... we must accept that as a strong possibility, as if she is clueless in regards to my appearance, then this whole challenge is pointless. She could have seen the sketch and has an idea about my appearance from that."

"You reckon she put that much thought into it?" Aizawa asked.

"Well, she does seem like a simpleton..." Near admitted "And is without a doubt someone who lets her emotions get in the way... but if she is the Second Kira, we have reason to believe that she is deceptively cunning. It will be no confrontation with the original Kira but our enemy is a smart one. Remember that."

"Yes, you're right..." Aizawa agreed.

* * *

January 12th, 10: 30 PM.

"This is the day, Near" Rester stood looking down at the crouching Near on the floor, who was stuffing finger puppets into his pockets.

"Yes, it is... looks like we're just cleaning up what was left of the battle with Kira," Near replied as he finished putting the finger puppets in his pockets and stood up with his L mask in hand "Oh, well. It should be pretty fun."

With that, he put on his mask and followed Rester out of the room.


	7. Sliver vs Near

"Oh, is that so?" Hound asked as he sat on a sofa opposite one occupied by Sliver and Lolly "One of our watchmen has reported that Near and his people are about to enter The Line."

"We better get moving then..." Sliver got up.

"Everything's already prepared" Hound said.

* * *

The SPK and Japanese task force members stepped out of their cars, Near donning the mask of L and the other members of the teams wearing motorcycle helmets. Near also had a large, white bag hanging from one shoulder. Numerous officers stood in front of them, some mounted on vans, holding bulletproof transparent shields to their sides so that although the people could be seen, they couldn't be shot at.

"You sure you're up for this, Yamamoto?" Matsuda asked "Last chance to chicken out."

"I told you, if you can handle it, so can I," Yamamoto said "Kira can't be that bad a being if _you_ survived encounters with him."

* * *

Katie sat back in a chair in her room, observing several small monitors on a small device she held snugly in her hand.

"Sliver... now that you're not being watched, you make a move like that?" she mused quietly to herself.

* * *

The protective formation outside went down and the teams filed into the building. They split up and took different entrances. Inside, they were greeted by empty hallways.

"There's no one here!" Matsuda blurted.

"What a rudimentary tactic," Near commented "They leave the first halls empty to try to make us feel a false sense of security, in order for us to let down our guard later on. Don't be fooled."

"Oh... yeah, of course..." Matsuda said.

* * *

Misa approached Hound in another hallway, a group of The Pack members further down the hall ahead of them.

"I can't find my notebook..." she said "It's gone from where I left it."

"Guess going along with this plan hasn't worked out so well for you" Ryuk snickered.

"If someone took it, it..." Hound mused _'It would be one of the hostages... but Katie told me to let them move completely freely and to not make Misa suspect them...'_

He sighed.

"It...?" Misa beckoned.

"I don't know. It could be anyone in the building who took it," Hound replied "But no one's leaving this place until the battle's over. We'll find the culprit then, when the suspects have been narrowed down."

* * *

The three members of the SPK walked into a large room filled with overhead walkways. Shortly after doing so, the door slammed locked shut behind them of its own accord.

"A trap?" Lidner turned her head around to the sound of the locking door.

"Well, what do you know?" Sliver's voice echoed through the room "You guys are actually real smart, right?"

"Give it up, Sliver" Near commanded, twirling some hair around his finger.

"'Give it up'? Am I supposed to be... intimidated?" Sliver scoffed "Or are you just letting me know that you know who I am? It's pathetic either way, L... or should I say, Near?"

"Is that really supposed to surprise me...?" Near's eyes scanned the walkways, trying to spot Sliver "You've teamed up with Amane, obviously you know that I am Near. How dull, you cheap knock-off of Kira."

"Whatever, knock-off of L," Sliver retorted "You have two aliases and you're not the first L. There's probably lots of wannabe L people like you."

"Quite the presumption, I-Kira..." Near said "I tire of you. We're capturing you right now."

"You're bored already? I guess you're one of the few people who isn't excited by L vs. Kira" Sliver sighed.

There was a single drop of sweat behind Near's mask. Not born out of fear. Born out of anger. Near opened the bag hanging from his shoulder and took out a bow. He then took an arrow and used the bow to fire the arrow at the ceiling above the walkways. The arrow had a metal tip, so it lodged itself into the ceiling.

"Don't ever compare yourself to Kira" Near said with disgust in his voice.

"What the hell was that?" Sliver scoffed again "A thr-"

With a deafening explosion, rubble from the ceiling was sent flying and most of the walkways were torn apart. The countless chunks of concrete and metal plummeted to the ground with a series of crashes and then all was silent.

"Did you just kill him...?" Lidner asked.

"Maybe," Near noticed that the explosion had blown open a hole in the wall "I'm sure we can find a way up to the walkways in another room. They all lead to doors, after all. It will be easier to look for him from the walkways."

The three of them walked through the hole and immediately saw a group of The Pack members turn towards them, guns raised. They darted behind a corner.

"We need to get up to those walkways if we are to capture I-Kira," Near said calmly "Split up and find the way to them. We'll lose those guys like that."

* * *

Sliver rose from the rubble and carefully made his way through the chunks of the ceiling, passing through the hole into the next room. His body was aching all over, moist in areas with blood. He limped through a hole in the wall and down a corridor.

_'How long was I out?'_ he wondered to himself _'Too long.'_

"Are you OK, Sliver?" Cilly asked him.

"Terrific" Sliver grunted.

Members of The Pack filed from another corridor and walked with Sliver, surrounding him on all sides.

"Looks like you've been through a lot" one of them said.

"Yeah, I took things into my own hands," Sliver winced "It didn't go too well."

"Each one of you is important. You can't go risking your life like that" the member replied.

* * *

Near was walking through a room when he stopped at the sound of a familiar voice.

"Near?" he turned to see Katie in the doorway.

"...Quarender?" he asked.


	8. The strangest feeling

Lidner came through a doorway and ended up on a walkway above the room where Sliver had confronted Near. She looked around the room, then spun around at the sound of footsteps. She saw Lolly pulling out a pistol and pulled out one of her own then raised it.

"You're too young to be carrying weapons like that" Lidner remarked as small grains of rubble fell from the ceiling.

"I'll kill anyone who comes after my Sliver" Lolly raised her pistol but Lidner shot her hand, making the pistol fly off the side of the walkway. Lolly panicked and took a grenade from her pocket, quickly unpinned it then threw it at Lidner. With most of the walkways gone from the earlier explosion, Lidner didn't have room to safely escape from the grenade, so she shot it while it was in the air, just a few inches from the ceiling. It exploded and more of the ceiling fell as a result, bringing down an avalanche of rubble. Lidner and Lolly both made a dash for a doorway but they weren't fast enough and were buried together. Lidner's corpse lay on top of Lolly beneath the wreckage, having shielded her from fatal injuries. Lolly turned her head, scraping it against the rocks around her and spat Lidner's hair out of her mouth. She could just about breathe through the gaps between the rocks. She could barely move an inch. But she was alive, by some kind of miracle...

* * *

"Near..." Quarender teared up and hugged him "I've missed you so much..."

"Why... why did you have to leave?" Near asked her "You didn't even say goodbye."

"I'm so sorry... I was... so scared of Kira..." Quarender recalled "Is Kira... is Kira gone?

"I caught him for you," Near said "And he had himself a well deserved death."

"Thank you so much..." Quarender took Near by the hand and begun walking into another room "Oh, we have so much to catch up on."

"We do but that can wait," Near tried to stop Quarender dragging him along and took out a transceiver which he begun to speak into "Commander Rester, can you come up to-"

"Aw, do we have to do this...?" Quarender asked.

"It's for your own safety," Near said as she stopped in the doorway of the next room "By the way, did you dye your hair?"

Quarender didn't answer as Hound grabbed Near's arm and pulled him further into the room. He punched Near in the ribs, sending him reeling back towards the back of the room then pulled off the mask of L and threw it against the wall, shattering it into pieces of splintered plastic. Near's rare, terror filled eyes met Hound's predatory gaze. Hound grabbed Near by the hair with one hand and by the arm with the other. He jerked Near's arm behind his back and forced him to face Misa, who had been standing in the shadows at the back of the room.

"So that's it..." Misa said, then took out a transceiver and spoke into it and also raised a video camera "Sliver, Near's name is Nate River. And I'm sending you a live feed of his face."

Hound shoved Near face first into the wall then took out his pistol.

"Rather pointless..." Near muttered.

"To have her see your face then take out the gun?" Hound asked "It's not for shooting you."

Hound slammed the barrel of the gun into Near's forehead, knocking him to the floor. His forehead was split open and the blood trickled down his face.

"Now, what's the most painful place to shoot...?" Hound was already taking aim "Oh, I wonder..."

Rester charged into the room, immediately taking aim with his own pistol.

_'How the hell did he get past my men!? Quarender said she had the perfect formation set up despite us not having many members here'_ Hound lifted his own gun towards Rester but he was far too late and a single shot to the forehead had him fall against the wall and slide to the floor, motionless.

Misa shrieked and bolted out the door.

"Rester, don't let her get away..." Near painfully got to his feet.

"Yes, sir," Rester made for the door then stopped, briefly "Are you alright?"

"Fine. Go," Near went out the other door and turned his head to see Sliver standing beside him in the hallway, a red notebook in his hand, his pen hovering over the paper. He pulled a pistol from his bag and pointed it at Sliver, then held out his other hand "Hand over the notebook. It's game over, I-Kira."

Sliver stared at Near, his eyes wide. He lowered his pen and handed the notebook over.

"It looks like you didn't have many places left to run" Near took the notebook.

"Why do you call me I-Kira? Haven't I done enough to just be Kira?" Sliver asked.

"You'll never do enough. You cannot compare to the terror of Kira," Near got behind Sliver and pressed the barrel of his gun into Sliver's back "Walk."

Sliver hung his head, looking resigned, as he walked down the corridor with Near behind him. As they passed an intersecting corridor, Sliver suddenly darted down it. Near took aim but Quarender emerged from a doorway in the corridor and seized Sliver's arm, holding it behind his back.

"Near, you look a mess," Quarender said, her voice filled with concern "I'm so sorry, if I wasn't there he wouldn't have been able to get the drop on you like that..."

"A few cuts and bruises don't matter" Near replied.

Sliver was struggling. Quarender brought her mouth close to his ear.

"Don't resist. You've done well" she whispered.

"I'm going to destroy this notebook. Are you alright apprehending Andrews?" Near asked.

"He's nothing I can't handle" Quarender told him.

"In that case, I'll see you later. We have a lot to catch up on..." Near gave a slight smile and then walked down the corridor, his back turned.


	9. Sliver Near Death

Quarender pulled Sliver into another room and pushed him against the wall, then covered his mouth and pressed a pistol against his stomach.

"I don't need you any longer" she whispered coldly.

Sliver's eyes were panicked and he was about to struggle but it died with him before the shot was even fired. He slid down the wall and fell to the floor, his chest tight and his hands having attempted to grab at the source of the pain. Quarender looked down at him curiously.

_'Is this some form of bizarre bluff? Or could he really be...'_ Quarender touched his neck to check for his pulse then pulled her hand away, having felt that he was indeed dead.

"Sorry, Sliver..." Cilly said to herself as she held her white Death Note, its cover featuring black letters of a shinigami language, in her hands "It is the duty of the shinigami to kill the human they possess when it's their time."

* * *

"Commander Rester, how is the pursuit of Amane going?" Near asked into his transceiver as he made his way down the corridor, surrounded by corpses of allies and foes alike but mostly foes.

"She keeps slipping away but Mr. Aizawa and I won't lose her," Rester replied "She has a lot of criminals helping her..."

"I see... she must have manipulated them with the Death Note in case something like this happened," Near mused "Very well, I trust you'll be able to catch her."

Near came out through the front door of the base, hordes of police taking the captured, some wounded, members of The Pack into their cars and vans. Others simply stood by, their headlights illuminating Near as he carried the red notebook. Ide and Yamamoto were with them.

"Matsuda-san, what's taking you?" Yamamoto asked "Did you get lost...?"

"Hey... shut up" Matsuda from the transceiver.

"If we never have to deal with another Kira it will be too soon..." Ide sighed as he watched Near step forward.

Near dropped to his knees and opened the notebook, resting it on his legs. He took out a pen and began writing intently, laughing maniacally.

"What in the name of God is he doing!?" Ide gasped.

"Open fire on L!" a booming voice cried through a megaphone.

The police, sans Ide and Yamamoto, obeyed, their bullets furiously cutting through the air. Near's final sight was what he had just wrote-the words 'you lose'. Just above those two words was 'Nate River gunshot wounds January 12th 2014, 11: 49 PM. Receives a red notebook and takes it outside without causing anyone any further harm. Laughs and writes 'You lose' in the notebook for everybody in the area to see, causing them to open fire on him, destroying the notebook as well as killing him instantly'.

Near fell backwards, the tattered remains of the notebook strewn across his ravaged, bloodstained pyjamas. His eyes were bulging, his lips mangled and protruding. The bag around his shoulder had been torn off and apart by the bullets, causing a plethora of playthings to be scattered across the dirt. There was silence. Ide slowly rose his transceiver.

"Uh, Aizawa..." he said.

Matsuda came out of the building and saw Near's corpse, the smoke still rising from it.

"Wha-!?" he almost fell backwards with shock.

Quarender moved back from one of the windows on the second floor, smiling to herself.

_'It worked perfectly. I was able to keep track of everyone's movements using the device with surveillance monitors implanted. Sliver stopped Misa from making any troublesome moves by stealing her notebook and now he's tainted the L name by manipulating Near like this. I don't have to worry about L for a long time... I'll just pick up the other notebook he hid and then I can take Near's place...'_ she thought _'I knew it would be easy to make L's successor trust me... I knew ever since L's lack of real progress in the case, he had died. It was only a matter of time until someone from Wammy's House took over... I was expecting it to be Mello. He always did better while I was there... but it worked even better that it was Near.'_

Quarender made her way to the room she had seen Sliver store his notebook. He had stored it under a pile of various, rusty equipment. Quarender threw it all aside but the notebook was gone.

_'This is impossible... I never took my eyes off of him... does this mean... someone else...?'_ Quarender sweated.

* * *

Kaylie walked down the street, panting, having just ran out of The Line. She clutched her new Death Note tightly.

"You were pretty sneaky back there. No one even noticed you" Cilly said "It's great to be working with you now, Kaylie!"

"Oh, hey Cilly," Kaylie looked back at the shinigami hovering behind her "Sliver's dead, then?"

"Yes, he didn't have long left to live so I had to write his name in my Death Note," Cilly replied "It's a pretty grim tradition. I didn't let him see that I was killing him, though."

"He'd have probably got really mad" Kaylie said.

* * *

Misa stood at the edge of a grassy cliff, Aizawa and Rester having pulled up by the road. Another car had also been pulled up, with a dead criminal in the driver's seat.

"Don't do it, Amane!" Aizawa told her firmly.

Misa pulled out a gun but Aizawa shot it out of her hand, fortunately not harming her.

"Damn it..." tears formed in Misa's eyes "It wasn't supposed to happen like this..."

"Now probably isn't a good time to mention that your notebook's been destroyed so I don't have to stick around any more," Ryuk said "I will for now though... I want to see what you'll do..."

"I could just... step off this cliff... as simple as that..." Misa looked down from the cliff "But when it's my time to die..."

"...it falls on me to write your name in my Death Note" Ryuk finished.

"Can you..." Misa wiped some tears away "Can you write my name next to Light's?"

"Stop, Ryuk!" Aizawa ran towards the shinigami, who had taken out his notebook and was scrawling in it.

"Is this to your liking?" Ryuk showed Misa her name written next to Light's, the only two names on the page.

"Thank you..." Misa said "I hope that she can do it..."

Misa backed off the cliff as Aizawa closed in on her. Of course, she was dead before she hit the ground.

* * *

There was not long of the night left outside Sliver's base. The police were still around but Near's corpse had been taken away.

"I know!" Matsuda said "I-Kira manipulated him into writing in the notebook so that the police would shoot him!"

"You think," Ide retorted "All we know is that, for whatever reason, he was writing in the notebook and got shot for it"

"Desperate times come for desperate measures, huh..." Yamamoto said, leaning against a wall.

"We could have interrogated Sliver Andrews about it but he passed away" Aizawa sighed.

Quarender sat against the wall outside the late Sliver's base, her head buried into her knees, her arms hugging her legs. Rester walked over to her slowly, trying not to lose his serious demeanour with seeing the distressed young lady sobbing or with the fact that every member of the SPK, even Near, had been killed except for him.

"Quarender..." he said cautiously.

"What is it?" she sniffed.

"I am positive that L was controlled and killed by Kira. Though the L project as a whole will take a blow from this, I'm certain that the hunt for Kira will resume eventually," he continued "Therefore, as a former candidate for the next L and to avenge the previous L's death... would you like to join me?"

_'Yes!'_ Quarender thought to herself _'All these crocodile tears paid off! If I join them, not only will I have more chance of retrieving the notebook but I'll be close to the next L and I'll be able to kill them once the time comes...'_

* * *

Things were quiet at Wammy's House. It was midnight, so all the children were asleep-or at least, they were supposed to be. Most were fooling around quietly. Or in more accurate terms...

Composer was asleep. She needed her rest so that she could work extra hard the next day.

Dig was reading under the covers. He had a special light attached to the book he was looking through. He also had over 60 other books under the covers for when he finished. He couldn't very well read the same book 60 times for his nightly 5 minutes reading time, now could he?

Express was asleep.

Gyro had crept into Rash's room so that they could continue their honourable action figure war.

Height was sleeping.

Illicit was creeping all over the building, snickering to himself about how he's never caught.

Jest was trying to get Twist out of her room without making too much noise.

Olivy was asleep, holding her teddy bear tightly.

Perci was enjoying his midnight Oreossnack.

Slink was in Xylo's room having a chat.

Un was asleep.

Vow had just finished praying and was now going to sleep.

Yui was typing away on the computer.

Z was sitting in his padded cell, somewhere between asleep and awake.

And all the rest had already left the orphanage a long time ago. Certainly, the 5th generation was not the biggest one. It was, however, the smartest one. Quality over quantity, indeed.

Vera was still in her office, at her desk. A 'W' popped up on to the screen of her laptop.

'Roger...' she thought to herself.

Text started appearing on the screen. First, the news that L had been killed. Vera's eyes widened ever so slightly. But the next message shocked her even more.

"What?" she gasped "That's ridiculous!"


	10. Mask

Vera could hardly believe what she was reading. She didn't expect things to go wrong... so she certainly didn't expect things to go THIS wrong.

"Near started laughing and writing in the Death Note so he was shot down," the message read "Although we have tried to get across how obvious it is that he was manipulated before death, they don't believe us and are now treating the L project as terrorism."

Vera leaned back in her chair. This was just so ridiculous. How could they be so foolish? Kira was the menace, not L! Would they really sit back and let Kira wreak havoc, with no L to stop it? How idiotic. In one fell swoop, Kira had not only killed Near but may have killed the entire L project for good. It was certainly the ideal way to go about it but if one didn't know that there was more than one L, what would be the point in controlling Near like that? Surely, they couldn't have found out that Near had more than one next day, things carried on at Wammy's House as normal. Vera knew that L was needed. She couldn't let the project stop. Even if she had to appoint a new L illegally, she would do it.

* * *

Yui was on the computer, as usual. She entered the password for her encrypted file to update her observations on her fellow Wammy's kids.

* * *

"Checkmate," Composer said to Rash for the fifth time that day as she moved a chess piece for the final time "Again."

"This game is stupid anyway!" Rash roared, swinging his arm and knocking the pieces all over the place.

"Miss" Composer called monotonously, raising her arm.

"Argh, why do you have to be such a grass?" Rash groaned as a carer came over.

"You deserve to be punished for hitting the chess pieces" Composer told him.

* * *

Once Yui had made some final adjustments to the log of the strategies Composer used in chess, she shut down the computer and headed out of her room. In the corridor, she came across Vow.

"You've been making notes on us," Vow said "You shouldn't do that. Doing such things behind peoples' backs is immoral."

"Oh? And can you justify raising the next L behind the public's back? Do tell" Yui responded, taking out her notepad and pen.

"Of course I can," Vow replied, frowning at Yui jotting things down as she spoke "It's for the good of the public."

* * *

Elsewhere, Twist's eyes were narrowed, his concentration fully set on the puzzle game in his hands. He was at level 100 and the pieces were practically blurs. Yet still the rows were being cleared. If he made one wrong move though, he'd be finished.

"Great job being backwards to a terrible person!" an all-too-familiar, overly energetic voice chimed.

Indeed, Olivy's teddy bear mercilessly threw off Twist's concentration and he failed in his conquest of the puzzle game.

"Goddammit, you did that on purpose!" Twist screamed at her.

"God will not damn it" Olivy replied.

"That's not..." Twist sighed "Well, you're only 4 anyway. So I have no idea what you're even doing here, Olivy. What kind of a name is Olivy, anyway? It doesn't mean anything."

"That's why it's her name," Height interjected "Unfathomable and intangible. After all, she's the only Wammy's child in history who was chosen specifically because she knew so much that it scared other people."

"Really now?" Twist asked "It sounds pretty harsh when you put it like that."

Twist suddenly screamed out as a pencil hit him square on the forehead. His head swivelled all over the place, looking for the point of origin, alas, he could not find it.

* * *

"Happy now?" Express asked from behind the door.

"Ooh, thank you so much," Jest replied to her "I could hardly sleep last night because of him."

* * *

Elsewhere, Perci was munching on a steak and kidney pie. Xylo watched in disgust.

"You're just gonna keep getting fatter" he said.

"That's a good thing," Slink replied "He has no chance of becoming the next L, that useless fatass. At the very least, he will help the better candidates' confidence by giving them someone to look down on."

"Actually he just distracts me by making me want to puke" Un said, examining herself in a hand-held mirror.

"Not your type, then?" Slink asked.

"Not in the least" Un agreed.

"Yeah, he is pretty gross," Slink nodded "Though girls shouldn't talk about things like puking, you know."

There were a few moments of silence.

"Whatever, I'm out of here," Un finally declared "I need to go to a room that isn't crawling with such fugly boys."

* * *

Z, as always, was between asleep and awake. His room was pretty plain with its white walls but to him, he was somewhere else, somewhere much further away, having more fun than any human could ever hope for.

* * *

Vera sat at her desk, thinking to herself. Z was undoubtedly the smartest child in the building. The few times he had agreed to do work, he had solved every question with a glance. But few was just that, few. He had only ever worked when it agreed with the circumstances in his head. Z was never motivated by anything life could offer him, as aside from basic human needs, he could and did imagine his own fantasy in his head, so quickly and so well that it seemed fresh and realistic even to him. As for trying to make him think about things morally, it was a failure. He only cared about himself. Doing otherwise would hinder him, he thought. Many times, the people running Wammy's House had wished for a child like Z but after they found him, they found his cooperation with them was only better than the first ever Wammy's kid, A. That was the price they paid for finding somebody with a mind greater than the original L's.

So, Z couldn't be the 4th L. Then who could?

* * *

"So many hugs make so many frowns backwards" Olivy's teddy announced.

"Alright, give me that stupid thing," Twist said "I'm gonna rip out its stuffing."

"It's nice being in a place where I can just tell on mean people" Height commented.

"God, you're such a... such a girl" he sighed.

"Ooh, he's got you there" said Illicit, popping up from under a table.

"I think it's backwards to terrible too" Olivy's teddy agreed.

"Argh, why would they make such an annoying thing which keeps saying the same word?" Twist groaned.


	11. Successors

"Ryuk, long time no see" Zellogi said as Ryuk joined him on one of the many rocks in the shinigami realm.

"I expected it to last a lot longer, actually," Ryuk replied "Though it was a treat nonetheless."

"So, silly's the only shinigami down there now, huh?" Zellogi asked.

"That's 'killy', even though it has a C," Ryuk corrected "The old man mustn't have been feeling too original that day."

"Huh, he was probably worn out from making those weird tubes implanted in her," Zellogi said, to which Ryuk giggled "More human world humour?"

"You should really go down there sometime," Ryuk said "It's fun."

"Maybe," Zellogi nodded "But right now I'm in the mood for watching."

And with that, Zellogi hopped off the rock and went to observe.

* * *

Kaylie went up to the house and knocked 8 times, pausing for 2 seconds after the third knock and 5 seconds after the seventh knock. The door opened and she was let in. The door closed behind her. It was a pretty packed house. There were no less than 3 people in each room. Most of them were male but there was a girl here and there, all of whom seemed to fit the description of a slut. They were probably around to entertain the guys. Awful hip hop filled the air.

"That's what I'm talking about, another girl," one man said "She looks a bit young too... just how I like 'em."

"So you are an ally of The Pack" the doorman said, solemnly. It was strange to see someone so serious among all the hooligans. He even had a business suit on and sunglasses.

"Yeah, Hound sent me," Kaylie said "Shortly before dying, that is."

"What?" the doorman asked.

"Hound died" Kaylie told him.

The doorman took out his cellphone, tapped some buttons and put it to his ear.

"Terrier 5YG6, report status of Hound" he said.

There were a tense few moments of people looking at the doorman. And then, the answer came. The doorman lowered his phone.

"She's right. Hound is dead" he said.

People started panicking right away as the news spread from person to person.

"How'd this Terrier person know, anyway?" Kaylie asked the doorman.

"Every branch of The Pack has a Terrier, who is the head of that branch. Hound has a chip inside him which was invented by his girl. The chip reads vital signs. Only a Terrier can pick up the readings from this chip through a special device" the doorman explained.

_'His girl...'_ Kaylie thought to herself _'Katie Smith.'_

"We would have got this news sooner or later though," the doorman said "The readings are regularly reported. After all, if that chip is ever touched by someone other than Hound..."

* * *

The doctors handling Hound's autopsy had picked up a reading of something inside his neck. The chip was taken out by a pair of pliers.

"What in the..." a doctor took it in his gloved hand but the chip was sensitive not to skin but to the structure of a finger. Instantly, the chip exploded and laid the entire room to waste, along with everyone within.

"Well, we'd better head to a more secure base of operations," the doorman said "We were only stationed here because the boss was so close by."

* * *

The Wammy's house kids were playing outside. Olivy was sitting on the steps with Height, as usual.

"A hug a day keeps the backwards happiness away" her teddy said.

Height looked over at Jest joining Express, who was crouched in a lonely spot under a tree.

"Read my lips, they won't be backwards to encouraging."

She then looked over at Perci handing Composer a sandwich.

"Is backwards sadness all you need?"

Height looked up. Twist was right. It was a pretty repetitive toy. She looked down at it.

"Kids know backwards sadness."

* * *

In the SPK headquarters, Quarender was sat on a chair, looking around at all the complex equipment. Currently, only Commander Rester accompanied her.

"Due to what happened with Near, we can't make any movements. We're under strict supervision" he sighed "But we can still record data."

"There were two Death Notes" Quarender said.

"Two?" Rester repeated.

"Yes" Quarender said and slid a laptop over to herself and started typing "Sliver Andrews, I-Kira, had one. Amane Misa, the second Kira had the red one."

Rester looked over her shoulder. She was typing a list of names.

"This is the list of everybody involved with the incident in The Line who have yet to be found. In other words, three people-Halle Lidner, Lolly Jess and Kaylie Autumn" she said.

"And one of these people has the remaining notebook?" Rester asked.

"That's right" she replied.

"Halle was a member of the SPK. She was highly opposed to Kira" Rester said.

"Right, so she probably wouldn't use the notebook" Quarender agreed.

She erased her name.

"I met Lolly Jess and she's an idiot" Quarender said and erased her name.

"That reasoning isn't very sound..." Rester sighed.

"It will do," Quarender shrugged "I'm only looking for a prime suspect."

She laid her fingertip on Kaylie's name on her monitor. In actuality, she already knew that it was Kaylie thanks to her monitoring device. But she didn't want to reveal that she had made something like that and not told the SPK earlier, who could have used it to their advantage. She also hid a slightly simpler invention. Namely, she was currently wearing a necklace with a large, gold coin attached. And inside was a scrap of the Death Note.

* * *

The Pack branch got out of Uccisore via an underground passageway. They then ended up in an abandoned warehouse in LA which was their other base of operations. While preparations were being made for deciding on who would be the next Hound, Kaylie was sitting in another room.

"It's been a really busy day, hasn't it?" Cilly asked her.

"Tell me about it," Kaylie agreed "I haven't even had time to commit mass murder... until now."

She opened her Death Note and started writing names in.

"So, who are you killing?" Cilly asked.

"Making everybody afraid to commit crimes is a little too much," Kaylie said "So instead I'll just kill everybody with authority... it will make the world a much more free place."


	12. Secret

Kaylie was still writing names into her Death Note. She had a laptop on the desk next to her.

"Humans sure got carried away with their hierarchy" Cilly murmured.

"Yes, they did," Kaylie agreed "So shinigami aren't as ridiculous either, huh?"

"Mmhm. You humans are pretty unique" Cilly nodded.

"The control freaks of the world," Kaylie said "It seems like all people want to do is keep those 'lower than them' in their place."

* * *

Later, Kaylie was sat around a table drinking some coffee. As usual, Henry, the guy who made a perverted comment towards her at the first branch she had been to, was eager to strike up conversation with her.

"What do you think of the guy they chose to be the new Hound?" he asked.

She had been pressing her lips against the rim of her mug and blowing ripples into the coffee. She looked up.

"Oh, that," she replied "Um... nothing."

Henry was a pretty boring guy. She was a little tempted to kill him with the Death Note but she didn't want to be too mean.

* * *

A few days later, people were just about done looking for the remains of the people who fought in the incident at The Line. The abandoned building which Sliver had chosen as his base was, in fact, an old factory where they made notebooks. The machinery had almost been completely removed so it wasn't as easy to tell as it could have been. The overhead walkways were a bit of a give-away though.

Upon some rocks being moved, horror crept on to the faces of many. Halle Lidner, member of the SPK, lay on her back with a rusty pole sticking out of her chest. Her right sleeve was completely torn off and the flesh of her arm gone save for a few specks on her bones, amidst the blood. Her jacket and shirt was also torn off on the right shoulder, which had been partially mutilated too. A small, rusty spike lay beside her right thigh, covered in dried blood. The corpse of Lolly Jess, a high school student, was also lying on its back. Dried blood was encrusted on to her lips. Autopsy revealed that she died of a heart attack.

This had the most meaning among the ones involved with the ordeal at The Line. It made them appreciate the cruelty of Sliver.

* * *

Around the globe, world leaders began to hide their identities. Police were issued masks to wear in the line of duty. Many measures were taken to protect people from the new Kira, Kaylie Autumn. Yet there were still ways to find out their names, especially with the support of The Pack. The Pack also begun to get stronger over the years. Rival gangs were mysteriously dying out. Members of The Pack begun to suspect that Kira was among them. However, they could do nothing to figure out who it was among their hundreds of members.

Over the years, Wammy's House managed to regain the right to elect a new L. It was very frustrating to Roger, Vera and Rester to have to go to such lengths to convince others of what they found obvious-Near had been controlled by the Death Note. They didn't want just one L this time. The first one they chose was Quarender. 8 elite agents from other agencies also joined the SPK but Rester remained the commander.

* * *

January 27th 2019, Height at 15 years old and Olivy at 9 years old both stood before Vera's desk in her office. Olivy clutched her teddy tightly.

"Height and Olivy. You have been chosen to be the successors of L" Vera said.

"Ooh, the both of us?" Height asked, clapping once "We get to be together, even as L!"

"Well, there's also another L called Quarender at the headquarters of the SPK in America. Arrangements have been made for you to go over there. You may make any preparations you want first" Vera said.

"Well, I'm ready to go right now!" Height chimed.

"Hmm, that reminds me..." Vera murmured.

She reached into her drawer and took out a CD in a case. She handed it to Olivy.

"Your parents asked me to give that to you once you reached the point where you were at least 8 and also sure of what you were going to do in life" Vera said, looking into Olivy's eyes and speaking in a careful tone, as if speaking of her parents was going to upset her "You're the next L so I thought... it's time. You may want to look at what's on the disc before you go to America."

Olivy stared at the case.

"My parents..." she murmured.

"I'll go on ahead," Height said with a smile, patting Olivy on the back "You take all the time you need looking at that CD."

* * *

Height walked into the SPK HQ later that day. Quarender spun around in her chair to face her.

"You lost, little girl?" she asked.

Height opened her mouth to speak.

"Just kidding. I've heard about you. Nice to meet you, Height" Quarender said, extending a hand.

They shook hands.

"Olivy will be here soon" Height said "Now let's catch Kira!"

"Yes, let that Kaylie Autumn be caught" Quarender agreed.

"You have a suspect?" Height asked.

"Yep. She's with The Pack though. I assume you've heard of them?" Quarender asked.

"You betcha," Height nodded "They're about the biggest gang around."

"Basically, catching Kira means beating the toughest gang," Quarender said "This might take a while."

* * *

Olivy was walking through South Downs National Park. She was wearing a backpack and holding her teddy in her arms. She sat down on a hill and unzipped the backpack. She took out her laptop, switched it on then inserted the CD.

The CD contained a number of custom made songs, games and animations. Olivy noticed that they all involved something hiding. She looked down at her teddy. If she squeezed it, it would say "backwards" somewhere in its speech. All 9 of its phrases contained that word. For some reason, as she stared at the monitor, all of its phrases seemed to stick in her mind and so did the word "backwards". Then, it occurred to her, the link between "backwards" and the phrases-or at least the first letter of each one. For if the order of the phrases was reversed then the first letters of each would spell out:

D

It could have surprised her, if it hadn't felt like it was already ingrained into her mind. She had squeezed the teddy many times before and so had heard the phrases many times, too. The batteries had been replaced on numerous occasions. Considering that the teddy bear was the only thing from her parents that she had over the years, it was natural for her to keep hold of it all that time. Now, the thought of something being hidden stuck out in her mind. She pressed the caps lock key and typed "KIRAISGOD". If the theme of something being hidden was as relevant as she felt it was then typing that was the way to reveal the hidden element.

She was right. The whole screen suddenly displayed a video. Two people were facing the screen in a bedroom. One of them was a man with brown hair and eyes. The other was a woman with long, blonde hair and blue eyes. Both of them looked so happy. And yet, it was not like the overbearing happiness that the carers at Wammy's House sometimes showed. It felt right somehow... like it knew just what level of happiness would bring the best reaction out of Olivy without overdoing it. The closest to this perfect level of happiness that Olivy had seen someone pull off before was the happiness that Height always conveyed.

"Shisou," the man said "It's daddy."

Shisou... so that was her name. She was glad that she was sitting down to learn all of this.

"And I'm your mummy" the woman added.

"We both love you very much," her dad said "Remember that we'll always love you just as strongly no matter what. We'll always support you."

"Yep, no matter what," her mother agreed, placing her hands on the man's shoulders "You're our cute little daughter, after all."

All of a sudden, the video cut to a different time. It was darker now, in a different room and only the man was there. He looked loving still but also serious. His gaze was telling Olivy to listen carefully.

"If you're watching this video then I'm probably already dead. I love you Shisou but I also love the world. I wanted a world that wasn't cursed with cruelty, one where peace could reign supreme..." her dad took a deep breath "I am Kira. If I was still alive after recording this then I would have shut down any potential plans to attack me with another L and found you after taking care of my enemies. I had to arrange for you to be taken care of by numerous individuals so I could assure that your intelligence would be nurtured. If I was ever to die, I knew my daughter would be the only one I could be certain would take up the job of being Kira. I want to make a world where everyone can be happy... I know you'll feel the same way."

All these years, Olivy had been raised by Wammy's House. Wammy's House was against Kira. However, it was also the only place that she could live comfortably in. That was why she had embraced it. However, her teddy had been a comfort even longer and what her father was telling her now made perfect sense. So what if Kira murdered people? He was doing it for a good cause. And looking into her father's caring eyes now, she knew there was nothing more to it than wanting a peaceful world where people could be happy. He put his life on the line for that sake. That was a truly incredible thing to do.

"As Kira, I killed people with a thing called the Death Note. A notebook that kills whoever's name is written in it, basically. Once this video ends, it will show you a map that shows where I buried a Death Note, which once belonged to a shinigami named Rem, along with a complete list of all the instructions I know. The shinigami who is attached to the Death Note, Ryuk, will join you shortly after you pick it up so don't be alarmed. Only those who have touched the Death Note can see and hear him. He can sort of act as an ally, although keep in mind he won't actually be on your side. He just acts as a companion and can be used occasionally," her father continued "I want you to use the Death Note to kill criminals and bad people until the world is a better place while still acting as if you're on the side of L. When the time comes you can kill those who you were pretending were your allies. I know you can fulfil the role of Kira. I believe in you."

Later on, after Olivy had seen the map, she once again put on her backpack with the laptop within and took hold of her teddy. She walked to a certain forest until she was in front of a certain tree. She had brought a shovel. She dug until she came across a fairly small, wooden box. She took off the lid to reveal a black notebook and a sheet of paper, both inside a plastic, transparent wallet. She took them both out. First she read the sheet of paper, which gave her a good idea of what the notebook could do. Then she took the notebook in her hands. She just looked at it for a while.

Olivy turned her head to the sound of flapping wings. Ryuk settled down to the ground then his wings retracted back into his shoulders.

"Light, you never cease to amaze me" Ryuk said to the air.

"Hi, Ryuk," Olivy said "I'm Shisou."

"Light's little girl, huh? I can tell from the name above your head" he replied.

"The shinigami eyes that the note talked about?" Olivy asked.

"That's right. Well, I also saw you being made..." Ryuk told her.

"What do you mean?" Olivy asked.

"Oh, nothing," Ryuk answered "So, you're the new Kira, huh?"

"That's right," Olivy nodded "And I'm in the mood for killing some criminals."

She took out a pen from her pocket and flipped open the notebook. Right away she started writing the names of criminals that she knew from memory. They were dropping dead around the world. Few of them barely had time to realise what it meant... that Kira was back. The only ones who had time to recover from the impact of learning this fact were the SPK HQ personnel.

* * *

"The killings of criminals has started again..." Quarender said "How could this be?"

After all, a whole bunch of criminals dying of heart attacks all at the same time couldn't just be coincidence.


	13. Amongst

The date was February 10th 2009. The location was Yagami Light's apartment. And the mood with Light as he sat in his chair, his Death Note open in front of him on the desk, was high. Today had been quite the momentous day for him. It had been the birth of Yagami Shisou, his child and his ultimate plan B. Claiming to Misa that he hadn't wanted to endanger Shisou until he was certain that all enemies of Kira were gone, he had used the Death Note to manipulate numerous people he considered bad into making sure that she would receive care in England, far away from him and any direct confrontations he could have. At the same time, he had tried to smoke out any direct allies of L using this manipulation.

He closed the notebook and looked over at his daughter, lying in her crib.

"I pray I never have to use this plan" he uttered.

It was a scary thought... if it were left up to his successor, then he would indeed have a new world. But he wouldn't reign over it... he didn't like thinking about failing at becoming God and dying. Yet, he would still be generally happy about a new world, whether it was he or his child reigning over it.

* * *

Almost 10 years later, Olivy, as his daughter was now known as, entered the SPK headquarters and walked into the room where her co-workers awaited.

"And there's Olivy!" Height chimed, looking up from the fish bowl she was holding in her lap.

"Nice to meet you," Quarender said, getting up from her chair "I'm Quarender."

She shook hands with the girl to establish another partnership.

"Why don't the rest of you introduce yourselves?" she asked.

"I'm Commander Rester" Rester said.

"Mitt" said a pale looking man wearing spectacles with black, uneven hair.

"Granite" said a tall, well built black man with hair which had been dyed light purple.

"Spyne" said another man, one with blonde, spiky hair and blue eyes. He had a cocky looking grin on his face.

"Sabitha" said a woman this time, a redhead with blue eyes.

"Iron" one man said, his black hair tied into a ponytail.

"Decken" another said, his brown hair drooping just barely over his shoulders.

"Volcon" a stern looking lady said, her black hair reaching all the way down to her waist.

"And I'm Guard," another black man stated "Welcome aboard."

"Hello, everyone," Olivy said, holding up her teddy's arm and making it wave "I'll like working with you."

She walked over to Height, the one familiar face.

"Are they kidding us?" Spyne muttered to Iron "A kid? We gonna have to order toys and candy for her, too?"

"At the moment, we suspect Kaylie from The Pack" Height told Olivy.

"Have you contacted everybody she knew?" Olivy asked.

"Naturally," Height nodded, taking out a plastic bag filled with frozen peas and hanging it over the fish bowl, then taking out a kunai knife "And yet we still haven't got any closer to her."

She flicked her wrist and cut open the bag. The peas all fell into the bowl and the 8 fish inside all swam for the food.

"Though while Kaylie is suspected of being Kira, she was only killing authority figures until now," Height said "As you probably heard about, criminals are also dying all of a sudden."

"Yep. So it's only natural to assume that there are two Kiras. I'll call one A-Kira for seeming to support anarchy and also for targeting authority. And the new one will be O-Kira, for acting like the original Kira" Olivy stopped herself from smirking, for she had chosen the letter O, her own letter, to mock their ignorance.

"So you think the original Kira is gone, too?" Height asked.

"Right," Olivy agreed, feeling a great melancholy "They wouldn't rest for so long."

* * *

Kaylie leant against a wall, sipping her cup of coffee. Cilly was next to her, sipping her cup of apple juice. She noticed someone coming down the corridor and threw the cup into the trash.

"Hey baby, want company?" Henry asked, coming over to her.

"I've got plenty already" Kaylie said, glancing at Cilly.

"You sure do, now that I'm here," Henry said, leaning against the wall and unwittingly phasing right through Cilly "You know they got a branch of The Pack in Greenland too now? Crazy stuff."

"That's wonderful, really" Kaylie responded, now rather irritated at his inability to take a hint.

Another member of The Pack emerged from the corridor, a portly man called Will.

"You just love trying to hit it up with Kaylie, don't you?" he asked.

"Hey, there's something real cute about the young ones," Henry sighed "Damn, she looks even younger than 17. I wonder if she's lost it yet? Wanna do it with me sometime?"

Kaylie looked from Henry to Will and then back to Henry.

"Who are you asking...?" she asked him.

Will laughed. Henry didn't have quite the positive reaction.

"Ask any girl around here, I'm no gay" Henry told her.

"You could still be bi though" Kaylie responded.

"I'm not half a gay either!" Henry replied "Look, I'm gonna have my way with you before the night is done."

That night, Kaylie wrote Henry Turnstile into her Death Note and he died in a traffic accident an hour later.

* * *

The lights flicked on and Drey Valmos the Mafia boss shut his eyes. He slowly opened them again as another man walked into the room, his black hair almost covering his grey eyes. He sneered at Drey, who was tied to a chair.

"Why, hello there. I'm Hound" he said.

"Your head's gonna roll for this" Drey replied.

"You're supposed to say 'hello' back, bastard" Hound II snapped and slammed his fist into Drey's cheek, staining his knuckle duster with blood "Ah geez, I soaked my poor friends."

Drey glared at him, yet also wondered what he meant by friends. As Hound II raised his fist again, he saw that the knuckle duster was actually a peculiar shape. Replica dog heads were protruding from the bright red knuckle duster, now stained with a darker shade of red. Their mouths were open and their teeth were the only things not red, they were grey... at least, they wouldn't be red if they hadn't been sunk into the man's face only moments ago. Hound II rose his cloth and wiped his knuckle duster clean.

"You know how many orphans I have working their asses off custom-making these things?" Hound II asked.

"Oh, cry me a river" Drey replied.

"No, I won't cry you a river 'cuz the answer is 0. I'm not a bastard like you committing crimes out of selfishness or ignoring people's questions" Hound II said, then took out a dagger.

"I'm gonna tell you right now where to stick that knife" Drey scowled.

"Well, I don't feel like waiting," Hound II replied, then plunged the blade through Drey's jeans, and through his boxers. Drey screeched, his thoughts all vanquished, the pain being the only thing he could recognise "Now, one-nut McGee, tell me where your friends are hiding out" he twisted the dagger and began to feel a stirring in his loins as Drey screamed again.

* * *

Vera was in her office typing on her laptop when there was frantic knocking on her door. She thought it was peculiar... what could be so urgent to call for such a frantic knock? At first she was worried but then she just put it down to an energetic kid. That was until she heard the carer, Jane Urring, talking.

"Vera, I need to tell you something!" she said, her voice cracking.

Vera quickly made her way to the door and opened it.

"What's the matter?" Vera asked.

"It's Un" the carer told her "She's hung herself."

"What!?" Vera responded.

Another suicide at Wammy's House... it certainly reminded her of the first A. However, A had killed himself because of the stress of living up to L. Un barely took her work that seriously. Why would she kill herself? It all felt extremely odd... and very unnerving.


	14. Connection

Height slapped her hands over her face.

"Un is dead! WHY?" she screeched.

"Many things can drive a young lady to suicide," Mitt said, pushing his spectacles up "If she is as sensitive to any faults in her appearance as you say, a problem of greater magnitude could push her further over the edge."

"There is no greater problem than a girl not looking her best" Spyne said.

"Let's be serious about this," Rester responded "I, for one, find her suicide strange."

Quarender was typing away on her laptop.

"Well looky here, pro-Kira people have been dropping dead of heart attacks recently" she said.

"Aren't we having a moment of silence for Un?" Sabitha asked, brushing her fingers through her hair.

Quarender paused for a couple of seconds.

"Silence done," she concluded "Now we need to get this Kira problem under wraps, if you don't mind."

"Pro-Kira people dying..." Height mused "And at around the same time as Un's suicide."

"I never thought a Wammy's kid would be such a meanie" Olivy said, holding her teddy into the air by its arms and looking into its face.

"What do you mean?" Decken asked her.

"The Wammy kids are all anti-Kira and they're all well looked after," Olivy continued "For the deaths of pro-Kira people to occur so close to a suicide of one of them is really weird."

"Don't tell me we have _another_ Kira to deal with!" Decken sighed, slapping his forehead.

"We have another Kira to deal with, one who's associated with Wammy's house," Olivy then lowered her teddy and smiled at Decken "Probably."

"Hmmm, I can see the connection..." Spyne agreed, rubbing his chin.

"You sure changed your opinion on a kid being part of our group" Iron muttered.

"If Wammy's house is where our next Kira lays then we'll have to do some investigating into there" Height declared.

"What are the odds...?" Mitt asked to no one in particular.

"The notebooks belong to shinigami looking down on our world," Rester said "It isn't hard to imagine one taking an interest in a place associated with the Kira case and dropping a notebook there."

Olivy walked past Spyne as he turned his head to speak with Iron. She took a stick of gum he was holding, unwrapped it and stuck it inside her mouth. He didn't notice a thing.

_'If there's another notebook then I want it here before it can fall into the wrong hands,'_ she thought as she chewed, then looked over at Height _'And perhaps someday you can become the right hands...'_

"You sure are light fingered, aren't you?" Ryuk asked her "Grab me an apple, won't you, Shisou?"

* * *

At The Pack LA branch, Will and his friend, George, were sat on a couch together in an isolated room.

"I just can't believe he's gone, man," Will said, lighting a cigarette "Henry was liked by, like, everyone, y'know?"

"Yeah, no kidding" George nodded.

"So it pisses me off that he's gone. I liked that son of a bitch" Will sighed.

"Stupid way to go, getting hit by a car" George sighed.

"Yeah, who'd have thought?" Will nodded "You think Kaylie was actually real torn up about it?"

"She obviously had a thing for him really," George agreed "They always play hard to get when they do".

* * *

In Winchester, England two men met on a hill, both dressed all in black. One handed the other some photographs. After handing him them, he wandered off and he was never seen again. After a few days, the other man went missing too.

The photographs ended up in Olivy's hands. She had them delivered to her by controlling numerous criminals. She sat on the side of her bed, Ryuk atop the bed munching on apples. She had manipulated an expert thief into getting snapshots of the Wammy's house kids who she suspected to be in possession of a Death Note the most.

"So as I told you, a human's lifespan only won't show if they're the owner of a notebook," Ryuk said between mouthfuls "It's interesting how you have the shinigami eyes without ever having met a shinigami before now, too..."

"Maybe it's because mummy and daddy were Kiras?" Olivy asked "Did one of them have the shinigami eyes?"

"Hmm, Misa did at the time," Ryuk said, scratching his chin "So that's probably it."

Olivy smiled down at the photos.

"Now I know which one of them is the pesky little W-Kira."


	15. C, D, E, G, I, J, P, R, S, T, V, X, Y, Z

Quarender walked into the SPK central room. Everyone was staring at monitors.

"She took her time showing up," Spyne said to Rester "Weren't her grades the lowest among the third generation of Wammy's house kids, too?"

"Yes," Rester said "But Near's were just as bad until after she left."

"So she distracted him from working well?" Spyne asked.

"While she was around he barely worked. But any time either of them put effort in, they aced all their work" Rester said.

"You mean all that advanced work was... too easy for them?" Spyne replied.

"That's how it looked," Rester said as Quarender sat down to observe the monitors "That's enough of that, anyway."

The monitors displayed the view from each camera which had been planted in Wammy's House. This was the strategy for capturing W-Kira.

"It's a shame that we have to go so far," Height said "I wouldn't like it if I were being monitored."

"Don't worry, it will be over soon" Mitt assured her.

"Yup, as soon as the hypocritical murderer, W-Kira, feels like killing people, we'll see it and it will be all over for them" Quarender nodded.

* * *

In the Wammy's House cafeteria, Rash, Gyro, Xylo and Slink were all sitting together at a table, eating.

"I can't believe she's gone..." Rash said "Why did this have to happen?"

"Eh, if the bitch feels like killing herself over breaking a nail or whatever it was, let her," Slink shrugged "That's what I would have done if it could have been helped, anyway."

"Those are wise words, my friend" Xylo nodded, sipping his tea.

"Slink, you take being a bastard way too far sometimes," Rash said "She _died_, you know."

"Yeah, I know. And that's fine if you care," Slink responded "It's just that whether the world has one less hoe or not doesn't bother me."

Rash reached across the table and grabbed Slink by the throat.

"Scum" Rash spat.

Slink responded by punching Rash square in the jaw. Rash reeled back, then circled around the table to get close to Slink. Gyro leapt from his seat as Slink got up and placed his hand on Slink's shoulder. He shoved him back down on to his chair. Rash tried to rush past him to get at Slink but Gyro grabbed his wrist then brought his arm up behind his back.

"Don't fight over something like this," Gyro said "You should settle it like gentlemen."

He walked Rash back to his seat and sat him down before returning to his own chair.

"Well look who just schooled the two hard men," Xylo scoffed "What's your take on Un's death, Gyro?"

"As terrible as any other," Gyro replied "If there's any death one condones then they are on their way to becoming like that vile Kira."

Gyro scooped up his noodles with his chopsticks then dropped them into his mouth.

* * *

Twist sat in a corridor with his knees touching his forehead. He was sobbing quietly. Jest walked around the corner and saw him. She decided to try to walk past him but he heard her footsteps.

"Hey..." he sniffed "Hey Jest".

She turned and looked into his eyes which were leaking a bucket load of tears.

"Hi, Twist..." she answered quietly "You don't look well."

"I'm not. I'm really, really not" Twist replied.

"No one deserves what happened..." Jest said, sitting down next to him and putting her arm around him.

"Why did she have to die?" Twist sobbed "Why did she have to go and kill herself?"

"I'm not sure why..." Jest answered "She always seemed different though... like she saw herself as better than everyone else. She seemed out of place."

"Well this place is a bit of a dump," Twist agreed "There's no way to replace her... she'll always be gone..."

"I know," Jest said and hugged him "But I don't think she'd want someone like you to be so sad about it."

* * *

Illicit was creeping through the corridors as usual. Suddenly, the corridor echoed with laughter. He turned around and saw Express laughing to herself as she walked from the corridor and into another room.

"What the hell?" Illicit murmured.

* * *

"Checkmate" Yui heard Composer say from the other side of the board.

"Aw, I thought I was going to win..." Yui sighed.

"Of course you did. You've been watching my games and keeping note of my techniques" Composer agreed.

"You noticed?" Yui asked.

"Yep. You seem to observe a lot of people's little ways very closely" Composer continued.

"Don't tell them I've been keeping note of their ways, too!" Yui told her, a little panicked.

"Oh, so you were, were you?" Composer asked, making Yui look like she had shrunk a little "Cool it. I won't tell a single person. It's better for them to find out on their own, if they're going to."

* * *

Dig had finished another shelf of books in the library. He put the book he had just finished reading back where it belonged when his ears pricked up from a noise in the library, of all places. It sounded awfully like crinkling. He turned his head and saw Perci sitting on a chair, an open book in his lap, a toffee chew bar in his hands. He unwrapped it completely then stuffed the whole thing into his mouth. Then he shoved the wrapper into his pocket and began to read as he chewed.

* * *

Vow was walking down a corridor when she heard a startlingly beautiful melody on the piano. She peeked into the music room and saw Xylo sitting at the piano. He seemed to be cut off from the rest of the world as he indulged himself in his own tune.

* * *

After sitting motionlessly for the longest time, Z said:

"Food."

A carer came in with a plate of bread sticks. She handed it to him then walked out. He sat and ate and did little else that didn't involve his fantasies.

* * *

"Ugh, watching this gets so boring" Sabitha whined, raising her arm to stretch it.

"As soon as one of them takes out a Death Note, we've got them," Volcon assured her "It won't be much longer"

* * *

Rash stood shocked at the other end of the corridor, his eyes hardly believing what they were seeing. It was one thing for Jest to be standing near Twist for more than a few seconds. But here they were, their lips stuck together, their arms clamped around each other's bodies. For Jest, who was always being irritated by Twist, to be involved in such a thing with him, was more than Rash's mind could take. He walked off.

* * *

"Wow... who'd have thought...?" Mitt murmured.

"Anyone who knows women, poindexter," Spyne retorted "That Twist kid's got looks and that's all girls want, trust me"

"Uh, you should probably keep your voice down..." Mitt whispered.

* * *

Slink was sitting at his computer chair, swivelled around to face Rash on the chair next to Slink's desk.

"Right, so what brings you to my room? Wanted to settle the score away from big, bad Gyro?" Slink asked.

"Forget our fight, it was the past" Rash shrugged "I just saw something that gave me a shock."

"Well, what was it?" Slink inquired.

"I saw Jest and Twist making out" Rash told him.

"Damn, you kidding me?" Slink asked, his eyes widening.

"I kid you not" Rash confirmed, shaking his head.

"Damn, wow," Slink leaned back in his chair "Actually, I don't think I'll believe it 'til I see it."

* * *

During Illicit's sneaking through the corridors, he was very surprised to see Jest following close behind Twist. He was even more surprised when Twist walked into his room, looked both ways and then walked in with her in tow. The door was closed behind them.

* * *

Mitt had his eyes covered. Spyne clutched his arms then brought them down.

"Don't neglect your job!" Spyne snapped "We have to keep watch on these guys."

"But I can't watch two people having sex! That's just... sick!" Mitt shrieked and looked away "Even if I look at different monitors, what if I catch a glimpse?"

Alas, Mitt could not escape simply by looking away. He heard the bed creaking, the grunts from Twist and the soft cries from Jest. He stuck his fingers in his ears.

"Fine, be a wimp" Spyne sighed, then leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head.

He looked over to see Olivy was wearing a blindfold and ear plugs.

"I can't let her see something like this" Height explained.

* * *

Xylo came into Slink's room and sat down on his bed.

"Thanks for coming" Rash said.

"So, Jest and Twist kissing? That's unexpected" Xylo commented.

"Yeah. I still want to see some proof" Slink nodded.

Slink then looked at a miniature monitor he had in his hand. It showed the door to his room and he saw Illicit crouched, listening in through the keyhole. Slink sighed and crept over to the door... then turned the handle and kicked it open. Illicit went sprawling.

"Can I help you?" Slink asked.

"You don't have to keep it secret from me," Illicit said "Curse it, I saw them go into Twist's room together"

* * *

Gyro and Express were playing ping pong together in the recreation room. Once again, the ball bounced and then sailed right past Express.

"Not again," Express sighed "I thought this was supposed to be 50% of your highest possible effort?"

"And it is," Gyro agreed "I can drop it a bit if you want."

"Fine, 20%," Express sighed "I'll be able to handle better soon."

She plucked a new ping pong ball from the bag hanging from the table's leg.

"Gyro, thanks..." she said quietly "I looked everywhere for Jest but I couldn't find her..."

"I'm always willing to help a comrade in distress," Gyro told her "And I consider you all my comrades. Sadly, not everyone in this institution has that mentality... but I'll always be here, ok?"

* * *

Twist felt a shiver go up his spine as he heard his door handle turn.

"Twist, buddy!" Slink's voice called "You haven't seen Jest any where, have you?"

Twist looked down at Jest beneath him, her face filled with worry.

"Uh, no..." he answered.

"Nah, she's definitely in there, isn't she?" Xylo responded "Open up and let the poor girl go!"

"Yeah, open up!" came Rash's voice, followed by a loud bang on the door.

"Damn it... you bastards" Twist whispered "You're going to have to put back on your clothes and escape through the window.. though I really wanted to spend more time with you."

"Well, if you're sure I have to..." Jest said quietly.

The bangs got louder and louder. The door may have been locked but it obviously wouldn't hold for long. Jest jumped out of bed and started pulling on her clothes. Twist helped her. Hastily, he opened the window without bothering to get dressed and she put one leg through. He took his bed covers, twisted them into ropes and tied them together, then Jest held on to one end. She hesitatingly climbed all the way out of the window and he used the rope of bed covers to lower her down to the ground, a floor below. He then hoisted back in the covers, closed the window, unwrapped and untied the covers, threw them on to his bed, put on a shirt and a pair of boxers then opened the door that was being abused.

"For God's sake, I'm trying to get to sleep" Twist lied.

* * *

At the SPK, everyone watched as each kid went to their room in turn. Even the ones who stayed up didn't do anything irregular all night. Yet, Kira supporters had still been dying throughout the day.

"It can't be..." Decken uttered "Not a single one of them took out a Death Note all day."


	16. Reviews

Hound II was sitting on an orange couch in a mahogany room filled with bronze statues of various breeds of dogs. He had a laptop and was typing away with blazing speed. A butler came in and laid a tray with wine and a cheeseburger sitting on it on to the table in front of him.

"Cheers, Alfred" Hound II said without looking away from the screen.

"Sir, my name is..." the butler began.

"Alfred, I know. Now go have a tea party or whatever it is you butlers do when you're not butlering" Hound II cut in.

The butler walked off and Hound II carried on typing.

"This'll knock 'em dead Alfred, just wait and see" Hound II called.

* * *

Kaylie was sat on a couch watching the TV with others. They were watching a message from 'Kira' that had taken over the airwaves, although they all knew that it was really the message Hound II had sent to the government. The screen was took up with 'KIRA' in black text on a white background, reminiscent of the second Kira's messages. However, it wasn't grainy at all and the voice distortion sounded more professional.

"This is Kira. If this message is being televised, then the government has decided to support me. I will announce that I am among The Pack. In the world today, the government's methods of law enforcement have fallen apart. The police are scared to make a move in case I strike them down. However, as criminals know that they will be killed by me if they commit crimes, crime is rare. The Pack's branches are expanding and being spread further and further across the globe. We are conquering all crime syndicates. Some people label us as no different than those criminal organisations... but we are different. Think of us as the law enforcement for the new era. We are Kira's stronghold. If this message is being televised, then anyone who goes up against Kira is the enemy. This includes the other Kira who is killing my supporters. I would like to deal with that person and gain their power for myself."

Will shook his head and took a puff of his cigarette.

"If I was Kira, I'd be real pissed at Hound for imitating me like that" he smirked.

"What do you think, Kaylie? Did he play the part well?" Cilly asked, drinking some apple juice from a carton.

"I think it's a smart move..." Kaylie said, taking a sip of her coffee.

_'So he figured out that the person killing Kira supporters isn't me... that was pretty obvious, though. But I thought it was obvious that the Kira killing criminals is different, too. I never did those kind of things before that Kira showed up... well, it's also clever to pretend that the killer of authority and the killer of criminals are one and the same. People are more likely to side with a killer of criminals than a killer of only authority figures' _she thought.

* * *

The Wammys' kids were making their way to the cafeteria, for it was lunch time.

"What's the matter? Not gonna walk with Jest?" Xylo asked Twist.

"Huh? Why would I...?" Twist replied.

"Will you be in the library today, too?" Dig asked Perci, stuffing novel after novel back into his bag after making short work of each.

"Sure I will," Perci replied "I wish I could read as fast as you, that'd be cool"

"But I always end up finishing all the books in the library before they can get new ones," Dig shrugged "It's not as good as it looks"

* * *

"Look!" Quarender pointed at one monitor "Someone just dropped a piece of paper!"

"Uh, yeah, so what?" Spyne asked as Rester paused the monitor to confirm Quarender's observation.

"Why would somebody keep a piece of paper like that?" Quarender asked.

"It's a note, obviously. Maybe Twist and Jest were gonna pass some?" Spyne suggested.

"We never saw them write any. Somebody went to the trouble of keeping that piece of paper in their clothes since before we set up the monitors" Quarender went on.

"A scrap of paper is harmless... unless it was a scrap of..." Height mused.

"The killer notebook," Quarender nodded "If they wrote names in the scraps of paper in their clothes then it would be the perfect way of killing with less chance of being caught. That's just like a Wammy's kid."

"Yes, although dropping the scrap is not. I find it hard to believe that any of them would be so clumsy..." Height replied.

Olivy glanced at Height, some sweat dripping down her forehead. She looked away again.

"Oh well, now we just need to keep it freeze-framed and-" Height was cut off by the doors of the room swinging open.

Two men in suits walked in.

"Special Provision for Kira, today the government chose to support Kira's wish for there to be no force opposing them" one of them said.

"That means you are now an illegal organisation for as long as you exist. Please pack your bags and exit the building by midnight. You are hereby dissolved" the other said.

Quarender subtly gestured for Rester to come closer.

"Block their view of me" she whispered.

Rester did so by standing between their line of sight and her. Quarender, keeping the monitor freeze framed, reversed it frame by frame.

_'The one who dropped this scrap of paper is W-Kira... it's incredibly likely' _Quarender thought.

She continued to reverse the frames and then she found the one who dropped the scrap of paper. She found her suspect.


	17. Faith

_'So it's him... that's W- Kira...' _Quarender thought _'I knew it... he was always disgusted by Un but tried to present his thoughts on her as not too extreme. And he's just about weird enough to kill Kira supporters...'_

Such things went through Quarender's head as she observed the scrap of paper falling from the sleeve of Xylo.

"You have until midnight to leave the premises of your own accord" one of the men said, then they both walked out. There was a moment of silence.

"What do we do?" Decken asked shakily.

"Well, I don't know about you but I'm haulin' ass," Spyne said "It's been real and all guys but come the hell on. We're an illegal organisation now and we'll have the whole world ridin' our asses if we don't get the hell out of here."

"Well, I guess you're right..." Decken agreed.

"Yeah, I'm not going to stay here either" Mitt said.

"I understand," said Height "At this point, any of you are free to go. You can stay if you want but it will mean being a criminal..."

"I'm staying," Quarender said "I mean, I am on a roll here. Guess who just saw our culprit?"

Everyone except for Spyne came over to her monitor and looked. Spyne was walking towards the door.

"So it's Xylo," Height said "I had narrowed my prime suspects down to him, Jest, Slink and Rash anyway."

"I'm gonna start packing," Spyne said as he opened the door "Catch you all later."

The door closed behind him. More silence.

"So we're going too, Mitt?" Decken asked.

"That's right," Mitt agreed "We better start packing."

They both headed towards the door, too. There was more silence after the doors closed behind them and Rester looked around.

"Is anyone else going?" he asked.

"I'm staying," Guard said "I won't run just because we're considered criminals now. I'll do whatever it takes to catch Kira. I won't forgive him for all that's happened to the world because of the vile people who used the notebook."

"I'm staying, too," Olivy said "I'm with you all until the end."

"As dedicated as an L should be," Iron observed "I'm also staying."

"I'll stick around, too," Sabitha added "Hunting Kiras is just way too much fun."

"I'm staying..." Volcon said "But it's not because this is 'fun'. I want to stop the murderers because killing is wrong."

"Eh, you're so boring" Sabitha sighed.

Volcon shot a glare towards Sabitha.

"Whatever our reasons," Granite cut in, trying to break the ice "It looks like everyone who isn't walking now is staying."

"Yep," Quarender agreed "Let's catch Xylo, everyone!"

* * *

Mitt had walked out of his room for a while and was looking around the corridor. So this was his last day in the SPK. After this, it was back to normal life. Would Kira be caught by his comrades who had stayed? Could the world be reverted back to its former state afterwards, so he could live in such a world? Or would the Kiras win and he'd have to face whatever way the world changed? Where anyone could be killed at any time if they did something a Kira didn't like?

Mitt's train of thought was disrupted when he saw Spyne walking past, carrying his luggage in a bag.

"You're done packing already?" Mitt asked.

"Yeah, I don't want to stick around too long," Spyne said "It's already quarter past 11, you know. Midnight's gonna come if you space out like that the whole time."

"I don't care if it does," Mitt said "That'd only mean those guys would come back to escort me out. I want to take my time. How about I walk with you to the exit, too?"

"If you insist. Don't go hugging me too, though. This is touchy-feely enough already" Spyne grinned.

Mitt chuckled and walked with Spyne to the exit.

"It was a pleasure working with you," Mitt told him "You know, I'm surprised the others didn't offer to walk with us."

"They're probably not as sentimental as you," Spyne said "It's cool though. You know I'm just messing around when I say stuff like that? I guess I come across as an asshole, sometimes. I think the kid stole my gum for saying something like that one time. I mean, it was out of my hand when I looked again, so you know."

"She must have a delicate touch to be able to steal it without you noticing, even for a kid," Mitt replied "Although all those Wammy's kids have weird talents."

"Well, here we are" Spyne said once they reached the exit "Later, man."

"Yeah, goodbye" Mitt replied and watched Spyne walk out the door.

Spyne walked down the steps from the SPK HQ, Mitt spaced out watching him from the door. Spyne turned to make his way down the pavement. Then, he was hit at 60 miles per hour by a chunk of chrome. He flew through the air, hit the road and then the car sped off into the night.

"J-Jesus!" Mitt cried and rushed out the door.

He hurried down the steps and dashed to Spyne's body. He knelt down beside it. Spyne was, to say the least, a mess. His eyes were wide and lifeless. His fancy suit was now covered in his own blood.

"S-Spyne..." Mitt uttered, his voice trembling.

Then the thought of someone coming out to get him too felt a wave of sheer cold up his spine. He leapt to his feet and ran back inside the headquarters, almost tripping on the steps in his haste.

As he ran through the corridors of the SPK HQ, he bumped into Decken, who was carrying his bag of luggage.

"Whoa, what are you doing running around like that?" Decken asked.

"Spyne, he was hit by a car as soon as he came out of the building!" Mitt cried.

"What!?" Decken exclaimed "You can't be serious!"

"Of course I'm serious! Why would I lie about something like that!?" Mitt snapped.

There was a pause.

"I should really go tell the others" Mitt continued.

"Yeah, I'll go too" Decken agreed.

* * *

"Now that's what I'm talking about!" George grinned as he sped his car down the road.

"That _was_ pretty funny," his friend, Billy, agreed from the passenger seat beside him "But now you'll have to wash the blood off your ride."

"Screw that, I'll have someone to do it for me," George replied "Maybe I can find out which one of us is Kira and get them to manipulate a criminal into doing it."

"That'd save you from some trouble, yeah," Billy agreed "But I think the Kira among us only kills authority figures. Notice how criminals didn't start dying again until now?"

"Good point," George nodded "It's almost like _you're_ our Kira."

"And what if I am?" Billy replied, trying to sound sinister.

"Then get someone to clean my car," George told him "Anyway, better drive back to the spot near the SPK's little headquarters. Man, the way Hound was able to get the government to let us know where their base is was the best".

* * *

Decken and Mitt walked back into the central SPK room.

"Back to say goodbye?" Sabitha asked, turning her chair to face them "You timed it just right. We were all set to move to a new base of operations."

"You'll have to do it sneakily then," Mitt replied "Spyne went out the front entrance and someone mowed him down in a car right away. Somehow, people have found out where we are."

"Oh, that sucks..." Sabitha sighed.

"Alright, we'll fly out in our two helicopters. We'll take separate routes to our secret spare base," Height said "You two can come too, of course. Once you're at the base you can leave."

"Alright..." Decken agreed.

"I won't leave" Mitt said.

"Y-you wont?" Decken asked.

"Seeing Spyne die like that made me realise what Kira has done to this world," Mitt continued "And if I leave now then I'll be forced to live in such a world with no chance to help fight against it. I'll be forced to live in fear of a murderer who supports chaos and death. I don't want to. I don't want to live in a world like that. I'm staying. I'm staying until either I or Kira die. Not a moment sooner."

"I'm happy to hear you're staying," Height smiled "Let's get that Kira, the legacy that was once one murderer."

"I'm... I'm staying too," Decken decided "For all the reasons Mitt said and... and I think we should avenge Spyne. As well as everyone else."

"Decky's staying, too? This is great! We should celebrate!" Sabitha chimed.

"We have no time to celebrate!" Volcon snapped "What if they decide to break into the base? We have to escape in the helicopters now."

* * *

Quarender, Height, Olivy, Rester, Guard and Volcon arrived at the second base first. 45 minutes later, Sabitha, Granite, Decken, Mitt and Iron showed up in the second helicopter. They all met in the central room.

"Now we can begin the meeting on how we'll capture Xylo" Height declared, giving the tabby cat in her lap a pat on the head "By the way, Commander Rester, whoever touches a notebook can see the shinigami attached to it, can't they?"

"That's correct" Rester confirmed.

"Alright, then let's say you've met one shinigami before but then the notebook you touched that let you see them gets burned up. You wouldn't be able to see them again until after you touched another notebook they're attached to, would you?" Height asked.

"That's right..." Rester said, wondering where she was going with this.

"The two notebooks that the third L burned..." Height went on "A fake had already been made of one. Was there ever a point where it was suspected that the other notebook was faked, too?"

"Kira did bring up that he had ample opportunity to switch the notebook brought from the Japanese task force with a fake..." Rester said "But he said it after being cornered. We figured it was probably just a bluff."

"Then if that shinigami ever appeared again, and that notebook had been faked too, the only people who would be able to see it would be the members of the Japanese task force, who had touched the real notebook" Height concluded.

"Kukuku, she sure is sharp" Ryuk chuckled, waving his hand in front of Rester's face.

_'Why did she bring up something like that? Does she think that Xylo somehow got his hands on Rem's notebook?'_ Olivy wondered.

"Anyway, enough about that," Height decided, running her fingers through the cat's fur "I was hoping we'd remain a legal organisation so that we could borrow some forces to go up against Xylo. After all, he can use the notebook to manipulate anyone he chooses. He could form an army of criminals or even people at Wammy's house to fight us. As it is, we'll have to contact the Japanese task force to ask for their help then meet up with them in Winchester".

_'Enough about that? Did she honestly just change the subject from something she'd have no reason to talk about?' _Quarender thought _'No, the two things she talked about are actually connected. She wants to meet up with the Japanese task force so that they can see whether the shinigami is attached to somebody or not. It was only a couple of hours ago that she pointed out how dropping a scrap of the notebook seemed unnatural for a Wammy's kid. Then... she suspects that somebody among us possesses a notebook and used it to manipulate Xylo. She's still only got grounds to suspect but if her suspect meets up with the Japanese task force then she can prove it... and I think she's probably right to suspect one of us.'_

Quarender walked out of the room and started walking down the corridor, fiddling with the coin on her necklace.

_'Then if I don't act, O-Kira could be caught and I can't let that happen,'_ Quarender thought, bloodstained memories coming back to her _'I need to make this kill'._

* * *

Aizawa was sitting at his desk when he received a phone call. He answered it.

"This is Watari. L wants to talk to you" Roger said on the other end of the line.

"OK. Put me through to him" Aizawa said.

"Mr. Aizawa. Please call your men over to your office. I want to speak to you all about something extremely important" Height said, then hung up.

* * *

A while later, Ide, Matsuda and Yamamoto had joined Aizawa in his office. The L insignia popped up on to the large monitor.

"Everyone's here, then. I'd like to meet with you in Winchester, on College Street to be precise" Height said.

"College Street..." Aizawa mused "That's the street Wammy's House is on."

"That's right. You may have noticed yourself that Kira supporters have been dying of heart attacks lately" Height replied.

"That _was_ odd" Ide agreed.

"Somebody at Wammy's House died, too. So I suspected that one of the kids there was behind the new string of deaths," Height continued "Through surveillance, we saw one of the children, Xylo, dropping a scrap of paper that was most likely from the notebook. The notebook is a powerful weapon though, so I want you to help us in the capture of Xylo."

"Very well, I'll go" Aizawa agreed.

"I'll go, too" Ide added.

"You can count me in" Matsuda said.

"What about you, Yamamoto?" Aizawa asked.

"I joined you last time, didn't I? I'm dedicated to stopping any Kira that shows up" Yamamoto responded.

"Alright. We'll be inside a van. L is actually composed of three people right now, so we'll stay inside the van to monitor the situation. Our eight other members of the SPK will join you inside the building," Height said "I look forward to working with you."

* * *

They waited until it was night, when the children would be in bed, to strike. The task force parked their car beside the van and the eight SPK members stepped out to meet them as they got out of the car. The SPK members were wearing tinted helmets with cameras and transceivers attached and handed a helmet to each task force member.

"It's good to work with you again" Rester said.

"Yes, long time no see" Aizawa agreed and shook his hand.

"Right, time for you to move in" Height told them over the transceiver.

They opened the gates and hurried towards the entrance to Wammy's House. They opened the door and went on in. No attempts by the staff was made to stop them, for Height had already contacted the staff and warned them of what was happening. They stopped in front of Xylo's room then opened the door and went inside. They crept up to Xylo in his bed but he leapt up in a fright and saw them.

"Wh-what the hell are you doing here?" Xylo asked.

"We suspect you of owning a Death Note" Rester told him.

_'If they search my clothes they'll find the scraps of paper with names on them... and the Death Note can be found if they just tear open my drawer... I have to get away' _Xylo thought as he sweated.

Xylo jumped out of his bed and grabbed a chair then swung it towards his window. The window shattered and he dropped the chair. He made a dash towards the window but Rester seized him. Xylo then took a pen from his pyjama jeans pocket and thrust it towards one of his sleeves. Matsuda took out his gun and shot the pen from his hand.

"Uh, Matsuda, don't you think it was a bit dangerous doing that while Rester was holding him?" Yamamoto asked.

"Well, I guess," Matsuda agreed "But it would have been more dangerous to allow him to go through with it."

"Alright, good point" Yamamoto replied.

"Now we can do this either the easy way or the hard way," Rester said "Are you going to tell us where you hid your Death Note?"

"I've lost anyway..." Xylo sighed "Fine. My drawer can't slide out from my desk ordinarily but if you tear it out there will be some space behind it. That's where I put the Death Note."

Aizawa took Xylo's drawer and tore it out from the desk. He put his hand in and took out the Death Note, which had been labelled similarly to the one that had been dropped by Ryuk but had different hand writing, which looked scruffier and less stylised.

"So this is it..." Aizawa said and turned his head.

"He lost already, huh?" Zellogi asked.

"That's right," said Aizawa, then held out the notebook "Touch it, everyone."

They all did and so Zellogi became visible to them all.

"That was fast but also fairly entertaining," Zellogi said "I guess Ryuk just found someone smarter... I'll have to try this again sometime."

"Ugh, please don't" Matsuda groaned.

"Looks like we found a nightmare shinigami" Ide said.

"We're not going to burn this notebook up just yet," Height said over the transceiver "OK, bring Xylo and the notebook over here. The shinigami there will have to tag along, of course."

* * *

The task force and SPK made their way into the van with Xylo and Zellogi. Quarender, Height and Olivy were all in different rooms of the specially designed van in order to be able to speak through separate transceivers to each other. A tinted helmeted Height was the one who met with the team and took the Death Note.

"Hello there, shinigami. I'm Height. How are you?" Height asked.

"I'm a bit disappointed in Xylo but not too bad," Zellogi replied "I'm Zellogi, by the way."

Rester had one of Xylo's arms behind his back but Xylo was still able to fiddle with one a sleeve using one hand. Rester was a little late to pick up on that. He pulled up Xylo's arm by the wrist, trying to stop Xylo from writing on a notebook scrap in his sleeve using the blood dripping from his hand.

"It's too late," Xylo chuckled "I already wrote my name. Too bad for you."

Xylo's chuckling became maniacal laughter and then he had a heart attack and went limp.

"Olivy, Quarender, Xylo just wrote his name on a Death Note scrap and died" Height said.

_'Of course he did...'_ Olivy thought _'It was just like I wrote in the Death Note. Xenophon Yafuso, heart attack. February 2__nd__ 2019, 2: 13 AM. Is able to keep himself from becoming the prime suspect by writing on scraps of his Death Note hidden in his sleeves during surveillance. Ends up becoming suspected on the second day of surveillance when he drops a scrap from his sleeve. Is caught and ends up writing his own name on one of the scraps before dying of a heart attack 40 seconds later.'_

"I... I should have been able to stop him" Rester uttered.

"So, task force members..." Height said "Is Zellogi the only shinigami you've seen tonight?"

Hearing this over their transceivers, Quarender and Olivy both felt panicked.

_'If the shinigami wasn't attached to any of the SPK members the task force met then it's obviously attached to Olivy... so she's O-Kira... I have to stop them from meeting her no matter what. I already set up __**that**__ kill so it should be OK...' _Quarender thought.

Quarender took off her helmet and hurried into Olivy's room. Olivy turned her head then Quarender tugged off her helmet and crushed the attached transceiver.

"Ooh, what's gotten into her, I wonder?" Ryuk asked.

"Olivy, you have to get out of here," Quarender urged, grabbing Olivy by the shoulders and pulling her off of her chair "The task force didn't make any mention of the shinigami being attached to an SPK member so it must be attached to you. Height will try to get at least one task force member to meet you and then they'll see the shinigami attached to you! You'll be caught!"

"Wait, what makes you think I even have a shinigami attached to me?" Olivy asked as Quarender pushed her towards the back doors of the van "And even if it was, where am I supposed to escape to?"

"The reason I think Kira would have thought to switch the notebook for a fake and give it to someone who would be able to attain a position among L as high as your's?" Quarender asked "Long story short, it's because I believe in Kira. Now go, quickly."

"Wait," Olivy said and made a dash for her desk. She grabbed her teddy bear, then sprinted over to the back doors "What am I supposed to do out there?"

"Just run. There's no time to explain. I promise it will be OK" Quarender told her.

"OK..." Olivy said and opened the back door "Thank you, Quarender."

Olivy dashed out and ran.

"What do you know, you made a pretty good friend" Ryuk chuckled as he flew after her.

* * *

_'It will be OK... I left no room for failure in that notebook scrap... Billy Broadwick, accidental death, February 2__nd__ 2019, 6: 16 AM. Travels to Winchester, England with his branch of The Pack, meaning to make preparations for a new branch there. Happens to meet a person on the run he gets on well with and lets them stay with his branch. Dies a few hours later when he is accidentally hit by a car. That's all I wrote. There __**are**__ some members of The Pack whose details can be researched and that's how I found my man... with his death, I can secure a safe position for Olivy. I knew this was the only way to keep O-Kira safe because Height was obviously going to expose them once she was done with Xylo'_ Quarender thought.

Quarender closed the back doors, went back into her room then put on her helmet and sat down.

"Mr. Aizawa, could you please check on Quarender and Olivy?" Height asked.

"Alright" Aizawa accepted.

Aizawa already had an idea of why Height was saying this. After all, she was asking about whether he had seen another shinigami earlier. Still wearing his helmet, he walked into Quarender's room. He saw no shinigami then walked into Olivy's room. He was startled to see no one there.

"Height, she's escaped from the room" Aizawa said.

"Oh? Looks like she's got something to hide. We'll drive the van after her" Height said.

"Then I'll see if I can catch up with her on foot" Aizawa said and stepped out through the back doors.

He sprinted down the street. Before long, he saw the familiar figure of Ryuk as he flew over Olivy. Olivy turned and saw him. Ryuk turned, too.

"Well, long time no see" Ryuk chuckled.

_'No... it was supposed to be OK!' _Olivy thought in a panic.


	18. Dare to care

Quarender could only sit and hope for the best concerning Olivy.

_'It will be OK.. she'll meet up with The Pack before Aizawa can get to her. How would the Death Note fail me?'_ Quarender thought _'She has to meet up with them... or else she'll be caught... the only remnant of the original Kira. She has to succeed. She has to.'_

* * *

Then Quarender was way back, at 8 AM, January 5th 2002, when she was only 8 years old, in fact. She jolted to her waking state at the sound of her mother's screaming. Panicked, she jumped out of bed, still in her pyjamas, opened her bedroom door and hurried down the stairs.

"Mum, what's wro..." Quarender couldn't finish. The words wouldn't escape her lips.

Three men she didn't recognise were standing in the living room. Two of them were tearing shreds off of her mother's shirt. The other was holding her father's arms, who was struggling fiercely to get to his wife.

"Oh, looks like someone's chosen to join us" said the one holding her father, pushing him to the floor.

Quarender started to back away. Her father leapt to his feet right away but he was intercepted by one of the other two men, who socked him in the jaw.

"Damn, why did you have to let him go?" the other asked, grabbing Quarender harshly by the shoulder and slamming her down on to her back next to the staircase. He then took out some chains and tied her to one of the banister's balusters.

"It's good that he did, now I get to beat the daylights out of him" another said, whipping out a crowbar and slamming it into her dad's face.

He then stood over her father and slammed the crowbar repeatedly against her father's head. Quarender watched, horrified. Tears streamed endlessly from her eyes.

"Huh, I was hoping he could watch his wife getting done," his ally said, sprinting from the staircase and in front of Quarender's mother "Where do you think you're going?"

"N-no... stop it..." Quarender whispered, for what was all that she could manage to force herself to do.

The other man dropped his crowbar and joined his partner in stripping the clothes off of Quarender's mother. What happened next, Quarender didn't quite understand at the time. The two men did inexplicable things to her mother's chest and private area, mainly using their own privates. She didn't get it but her mother was screaming and crying, so she could tell that it was very bad.

"Leave her alone!" Quarender screeched "Just leave her alone!"

The third man came over to Quarender and tied a gag around her mouth.

"You can join in, you know" one of the others said.

"Nah, she's not my type. Too old" he replied as they dropped her mother to the ground and pulled their pants back up.

"Well, it's been fun but we really shouldn't stick around" his partner replied.

The third man took out a knife and slit her mother's throat. Her writhing stopped. Quarender could only watch, her tears soaking into her gag.

"Nah, both you guys have had your fun but I haven't," the one next to Quarender said, producing a knife "I really like them young, you know."

He took the knife and cut off the bottom two buttons of Quarender's pyjama top. He continued bringing the knife up, slowly, making to cut the other buttons as well but he was forced to stop as the sound of sirens pierced the air.

"Damn, it's the cops," another said "Some neighbour must've called them. Let's get out of here."

"Ugh, perfect timing," the one beside Quarender said, then gave her a pat on the head "I'll be thinking of you."

All three of them dashed out the back door and then they were gone. Quarender stood there, chained and crying alone with the ear splitting sirens being the only sound other than her sobs.

* * *

Quarender was sat in the police station, unmoving from the chair. A couple of cops were stood to the side, no longer sure of what to say. They weren't even sure if anything _could_ be said.

That was when an elderly man in a black coat and hat walked in.

I've come to bring this girl to the orphanage," he said, then extended a hand for the girl to take "I'm Quillsh Wammy."

Quarender still sat, staring blankly at nothing. Wammy lowered his hand again after an awkward silence.

* * *

Once Quarender was at Wammy's House, she sat in a corner next to the toy box and rolled a toy truck that somebody hadn't put back in to and fro. A white haired boy approached her, looked at her cautiously, then sat on the other side of the toy box.

"Look at that, Near just had his toy stolen" a blonde boy sniggered as he walked past with some other boys, crunching on a chocolate bar.

At this comment, Quarender looked coldly at Near.

"I don't care," Near said "It's not like anyone else plays with this stuff."

Near took a monster truck from the toy box and set it to the ground. He turned 360 degrees, driving the truck using his hand as he did so, then released it from his hand so that it drove into Quarender's vehicle, knocking it from her grasp.

"Gotcha" he smirked.

Quarender responded by picking back up her truck and throwing it at Near's head. It bounced off his temple, which he clutched in pain.

"I really don't want you being annoying right now," Quarender told him "If you ever annoy me again, I'll kill you."

"I understand," Near replied "You're new here so you only lost your parents recently... it must have been really bad. I'm sorry."

"It was..." Quarender replied solemnly "They were killed... it was... just horrible..."

Quarender started sobbing into her hands.

"And I talked about killing you... I'd be just like them if I did that..." Quarender continued.

Near fiddled with his hair awkwardly for a moment and then hesitatingly gave her a pat on the head, which earned him a hard slap. He sat in stunned silence for a moment and then she hugged him.

"I'm sorry... I know I look like a complete weirdo right now" she said, crying into his shoulder.

"I don't think you're weird" Near replied then after a few long seconds of silence, hugged her back.

* * *

Over the next few days, Quarender and Near got on remarkably well. It could be said that it was the only time since the disaster that Quarender felt affection towards someone she knew.

"Why's everyone so obsessed with playing outside?" Quarender asked Near one day as they were moving plastic aeroplanes through the air.

"Because they're a bunch of idiots," Near replied, twiddling his hair with his free hand "Victory in such a medium depends on physical capacity. Few people think to play using other means..."

"Yeah, other than us, the only ones I've seen playing indoors are Mello and Matt with their video games, now and then" Quarender agreed.

"When Mello does get involved in their little physical games, he makes sure they get hurt... they deserve it, too. And it only gets worse in the outside world" Near continued.

"People like that should all just disappear" Quarender said, then slammed her plane into Near's, sending the air crafts plummeting to the air in pieces.

"You broke them..." Near observed, then pulled a couple more out from the toy box "Oh well."

* * *

The Wammy's kids were sat around Roger, who was sitting on his chair, explaining his usual updates on L.

"His next move?" Roger asked "It will probably be tackling the mass murderer of criminals."

"Are you sure that's not just some kind of divine retribution?" one of the kids asked.

"A God wouldn't use such a brutal method of retribution" Mello replied.

"Whatever it is, it sure is troublesome," Near said, fiddling with his hair "Killing all the criminals might seem like the path to peace but it isn't."

Quarender shot a glare towards Near. She had misjudged him. She got up and fled from the room.

"What's _her _problem?" Mello asked, munching his chocolate bar.

Near got up and walked after her.

"Near..." Roger called futilely.

* * *

Near found Quarender in the corridor outside, leaning against a wall.

"Why did you run out like that?" he asked.

"Well... L is going up against some kind of force that can kill anyone by making them have heart attacks. Aren't you worried?" Quarender asked.

"I know that L will win," Near said "Because L is more than a man. This orphanage proves that L is an army... a legacy."

* * *

The next morning, with a toy robot under his arm, Near knocked on the door of Quarender's room. No answer. That was a first. She must have been in a deeper sleep than ever before. Near opened the door and walked inside. Her bed was empty. He looked around for any signs of life. None.

* * *

"What's the matter, Near?" Roger asked as he opened the door of his office.

"I looked everywhere but I couldn't find Quarender" he replied, looking up at Roger sincerely.

* * *

The staff's searches for Quarender proved to be fruitless, too. Eventually they had no choice but to give up. Near became a shell of himself and played alone each day. Even when the kids were treated to a chance to talk to L, through the computer, Near only sat in the corner and solved Rubik's cubes and blank jigsaw puzzles.

"What drives you to have such a strong sense of justice?" Linda asked L.

"It's not a sense of justice. Figuring out difficult cases is my hobby. If you measured good and evil deeds by current laws, I would be responsible for many crimes," L said and Near turned his head "The same way you all like to solve mysteries and riddles or clear video games quicker, for me, it's simply prolonging something I like to do. That's why I only take on cases that pique my interest. It's not justice at all. And if it means being able to clear a case, I don't play fair. I'm a dishonest, cheating human being who hates losing..."

* * *

The carer was sure that as she laid the work down in front of Near on the desk, that he wouldn't complete it. While Quarender was around, he was too distracted. While she was gone, he was too depressed. Yet to her surprise, his pen attacked the paper as soon as it reached him. During the time that she stood there in surprise, he finished the work and handed it back to her.

_'Quarender... the last time we talked, you were scared for L... then if L ever does die, I'll make sure that I'm the one who succeeds him so that I can defeat his assassin... Kira'_ Near thought.

* * *

February 2nd, 2019.

The van's headlights flickered on and it turned on to the other lane of the road.

_'Aizawa...'_ Ide sat in the passenger seat beside the driver's seat. Rester was at the wheel.

_'This pretty much marks Olivy as the traitor...'_ Iron thought to himself _'Spyne didn't like the idea of a kid being with us... it looks like he was right for the wrong reason.'_

Height watched Rester take the van up the road.

* * *

"Hold it, Olivy," Aizawa said "That's as far as you get."

"You can see Ryuk, then" Olivy said, squeezing her teddy bear.

"Of course I can," Aizawa confirmed "I know now that you're O-Kira. It's my duty to capture you."

"Your duty is to leave me alone," Olivy said, stepping back cautiously "Why are you after me so much? Which one of you killed my daddy? Was it you?"

"Daddy...?" Aizawa asked, startled.

"Yes, daddy. Kira. Light" Olivy confirmed.

"How in the world..." Aizawa uttered and then remembered something that had bugged him, Light suggesting that he switched the notebook from headquarters with a fake and had the real one hidden "So, he organised things so that you would get a notebook too... but he knew as well as I do that if Kira is caught, that he, or she, is evil."

"No!" Olivy screeched, rotating the right eye of her teddy so that it slid to the side to reveal a compartment in the bear's eye hole "Kira wants to save the world!"

_'She hid a piece of the Death Note, too!?'_ Aizawa mentally panicked.

Olivy pulled out a roll of paper, unwrapped it, pulled out a pen and then begun writing Aizawa's name. Aizawa pulled out his pistol and pointed it at her hand. Olivy glanced up at him then paused for a horrible moment.

Yet, all Aizawa could see in his aim was his daughter, Yumi, while she was still a little girl. Olivy carried on writing. Aizawa's finger tightened on the trigger. His hands were shaking now. If he shot, he could easily misfire and kill her. Then he saw his younger daughter. Olivy finished writing and ran, yet to Aizawa it was Light running and the hands holding the pistol were the hands of Yagami Soichiro. He dropped his gun. Tears welled up in his eyes. His fate had been sealed by the 'Aizawa Shuichi' on the Death Note scrap.

The van stopped when it saw Aizawa in its headlights. Ide opened the door and called out.

"Aizawa, what are you doing?"

Aizawa turned and looked at him.

"I'm sorry... I just couldn't shoot" he choked.

Ide got out of the van and ran towards Aizawa. Aizawa looked up, then felt the inevitable pain in his chest. He fell backwards and Ide, who had caught up just in time, fell to one knee and caught him in his arms.

"I..." Aizawa uttered quietly "...just couldn't do it."

Ide looked down at him intently. Aizawa's eyes began to shut before he said his last word.

"Light..."


	19. Community

Olivy ran across the pavement as the rain started to pour down. Her teddy was clung to her tightly, its killing weapon stashed safely inside its hidden compartment.

_'He wasn't a bad guy but I killed him...'_ Olivy was thinking _'I really killed him... no, he was going to capture me. He deserved it. But still...'_

She wasn't looking where she was going and bumped right into someone.

"Oh, sorry..." she said and went to pass by them.

"What's a kid doing out at 2 in the morning in the rain? You lost?" the bumped into man, Billy, asked.

"Come on Billy, The Pack aren't people kids should get involved with" one of the 15 men with him said.

"You think I care, Derek?" Billy asked "'cause I don't. It's rainy as hell and it's late as hell. Kid, if you're lost, you can stay with us for a while."

_'The Pack... that's the group A-Kira, Kaylie Autumn, is in... I left my Death Note in the hands of a criminal in LA I manipulated who stored it away, so I can't use that...'_ Olivy thought _'I should try to meet up with Kaylie so I can use her Death Note. She could be useful though so I won't kill her...'_

"Okay..." Olivy replied "I have no home, actually."

"Alright, consider yourself part of my branch of The Pack, then" Billy decided.

* * *

"Ide? What's going on out there?" Matsuda asked as he came to the door of the van.

"It's Aizawa..." Ide said.

"Aizawa...?" Matsuda murmured and then saw Aizawa lying in Ide's arms "Aizawa!"

"So Olivy really is O-Kira" Guard uttered.

"I hope not," Height replied "But I can certainly see why you'd say that as if it were true."

"Aizawa..." Matsuda choked, kneeling beside Ide "I can't believe it..."

Ide put one hand on Matsuda's shoulder. Tears begun to form in Matsuda's eyes and a moment later, they were pouring out. Ide looked away as he felt his own eyes begin to water.

"How are we going to tell his family?" Yamamoto asked, standing by the door of the van.

"Yes, that will be tough," Height agreed "Everyone... I'm sorry. I'm sorry for calling you four over here."

"No... we agreed to it," Ide replied, his voice cracking "We've always known that we were putting our lives in grave danger by trying to stop Kira. Many of us have died throughout this case. We'll keep on doing whatever it takes to end the murders."

* * *

Olivy was inside a house with the other members of The Pack. Billy had gone out to fetch some food, since dusk had finally arrived but he was coming back. She was sat on a sofa.

"Well well, you stayed up all night," Ryuk said "That's pretty impressive for a kid."

_'I can't sleep... all I can see is the face of Aizawa that I saw through the cameras on the SPK members' helmets. Aizawa Shuichi... I wonder if he had a family... I wonder how many friends he had...'_ Olivy thought _'I don't like the idea but I should kill the rest of them too... no, I can't replace the piece of the Death Note I have and it's only small. I'll need space if I ever need to write a name in an emergency. Although, Height's a big problem... but... no... I can't kill her...'_

Olivy's thoughts were shattered when she heard the sound of tires screeching outside. She and several other members of The Pack looked out the window to see Billy lying bleeding on the road, with a car stopped in front of him.

"Oh my God... what the hell!?" Derek exclaimed, then he and all the other members rushed out the front door with Olivy walking out behind them.

"I-I'm sorry..." said the driver, stepping out of the car "He came out right in front of me... I should have stopped but... I'm sorry."

"This sure sucks," Derek sighed "So much for making a new branch here. Well, that's the boss dead, so we better head back to LA."

* * *

In the van, Height leaned back in her chair and sighed.

"Still no sign of her... she's good at hiding" Height said.

Quarender, the only other person in the van since everyone else was searching, was typing on her computer.

"The satellite feed shows nothing either" Quarender sighed.

Height typed some more on her own computer.

"An important member of The Pack was reported to be found dead nearby," she said "Hit by a car... that was the same way Henry Turnstile, another high ranked member of The Pack, died only 5 days ago. And for a group based only in America and places near it to have a member like that here..."

Quarender looked at Height, sweat sliding down her face.

"It looks like O-Kira manipulated him into coming here in order to protect themselves. Though now that the leader of a branch is dead, that branch will probably take O-Kira back to LA with them..." Height mused.

_'Ungh... you're a bitch, Height'_ Quarender thought.

"Right then, if they're going to America, they'll use Southampton Airport, since that's by far the closest to Winchester," Height concluded "Better contact some old friends."

"So the satellites picked up Olivy and her buddies heading over here," Slink confirmed into his hand-held transceiver as he sat on a chair inside the airport "Damn Olivy, who'd have guessed you're so naughty?"

"OK, Quarender, call the others back to the van," Height said on the other end of the transceiver "Now, board three separate flights to LA. Illicit, you board the one Olivy gets on. Slink and Rash, you board another. And Gyro, Yui, you two board yet another."

"Roger that" Gyro replied.

"Well, bye" Illicit said, already off the chair next to Gyro's and walking towards where his flight was.

"Catch you guys later" Rash said, raising a hand as he walked off with Slink.

"Yes, see you" Gyro agreed and walked with Yui.

_'No, what am I saying?'_ Gyro wondered _'We're joining the fight against Kira now. There is no seeing them later... there's only hoping we're still alive to be able to do that once this is over."_


	20. 3

_'Ugh... flights are so boring... how do people handle them?'_ Illicit pondered to himself as he slouched on the chair of the aeroplane.

He was a few rows behind Olivy, who was sat beside a member of The Pack. Yet more members of The Pack were in surrounding seats. Illicit had counted 15 in total, the same number as they had observed entering the airport on satellite.

* * *

_'The sneakiest one, Illicit, is keeping an eye on Olivy. Gyro, Yui, Slink and Rash are en route to the same destination on the other two planes... this should go perfectly'_ Height thought from the van in Winchester.

* * *

Once all three flights had landed, the 15 members of The Pack along with Olivy were walking through the streets of LA. Illicit, Gyro, Yui, Slink and Rash were tailing them but they didn't believe they were spotted.

"We could be being followed" Olivy suddenly said.

"What?" Derek responded, looking over his shoulder "Does it look like anybody's following us?"

"In the busy streets of LA, it's hard to tell," Olivy said "But there are people out to get me... they might be tailing us."

"This kid..." one of them sighed "This is ridiculous."

"So are you, Jack," Derek replied "We're 15 members of The Pack out walking together. Actually, we could be being followed."

"How about we split up into 3 groups?" Olivy asked.

"Alright. I'll go with Olivy. Jack, Pete, Paul, Haden, you come with us. The rest of you split into two groups of 5. We'll each go to a different branch" Derek decided.

And so they did. Gyro spoke into his transceiver.

"We're seeing movement here. They've split into three different groups..." he said.

"Hm, perhaps great minds really do think alike," Height said on the other end of the transceiver "Illicit, follow the group with Olivy. Slink and Rash, Gyro and Yui, follow the other two."

"Great minds, huh?" Slink asked.

"Yes, for them to split up like this..." Height replied "I can't help but suspect that Olivy had a hand in this development."

* * *

Illicit watched Olivy and the others enter the branch from a distance. Once they had gone inside, he walked up to the entrance of the two-floor building.

_'I've already heard about how to get in... it's very simple these days'_ he thought.

He approached the door and knocked. The doorman opened up.

"Hey, I wanna join The Pack" Illicit said.

"Right, name please?" the doorman asked.

"Ivan Carlson" Illicit replied.

"'kay, come on in" the doorman said, stepping to the side.

Illicit walked right on in.

_'Wow, talk about easy'_ Illicit thought as he looked around.

Illicit saw Olivy stepping out of a room and hid behind a corner.

"Sorry, this really isn't for kid's ears," he heard Derek say "So, Hound..."

He then heard the door shut but soon made his way back over to it. Hearing the word 'Hound' was enough to pique his curiosity greatly. He put his ear to the keyhole and held a small mirror out in front of himself to keep an eye on things behind him. He couldn't be caught eavesdropping.

"Billy got hit by a car?" he heard someone say.

"Yeah."

"Right... so soon after Henry went out the same way."

"By the sounds of it, you think it's more than an accident."

"Sounds like Kira to me."

"Kira...? Then you think maybe it was the Kira who kills criminals?"

"Well, that Kira's never hunted The Pack before... but maybe they had something to gain from killing a high-ranking member like Billy. Judging from some of the unlikely deaths that have befallen our enemies, Kira can not only choose the method of killing but control that person's actions before death, too. Did Billy do anything... unusual before dying?"

"Hmmm... yeah... it was pretty strange how he let that kid come with us."

"Kid? What's the kid's name?"

"She's called Olivy."

"Huh... sounds like an alias to me. I reckon Kira pulled some strings to get this kid in."

"Then... you think Olivy's Kira?"

"Well, I guess it's possible... but it could also be the work of someone else and Olivy's just their ally. Either way, we're now connected to two Kiras."

"Heh, that's pretty cool."

"Oh but there's no way Kira could have gained anything from killing Henry. That was probably the Kira who's already with us."

"Wha... but... why would they do that?"

"Simple, he could've just been a pain to them."

"But there wasn't anyone who didn't like Henry... was there?"

"Hmmm... I'll call up Will, him and Henry were tight..."

There was a pause. Illicit couldn't help but sweat. What they were talking about was pretty heavy stuff.

"Yeah, Will? Was there anyone who didn't like Henry? Just tell me. Hmm... uh-huh... Kaylie Autumn, eh?"

_'Damn! If Hound's figured out who A-Kira is then we're in big trouble!'_ Illicit thought.

"Right... Kaylie's stationed at the branch on South Hope street. I wonder if I can talk to her about this without her killing me...? And I wonder whether she'd deny it..."

Illicit stepped away from the door and into an empty corridor.

"L... did you hear all of that?" Illicit asked into the bug on his collar.

* * *

"Yes, I did. Slink and Rash, the South Hope street branch is the one you're at... report any findings to me," Height said "The van will be at the airport soon."

_'This is bad... both these guys and The Pack are closing in on Kaylie... I've got no way of contacting Olivy so that she can get to her first... unless I killed someone else and got them to contact her?'_ Quarender thought.

"Oh and Illicit... don't let Olivy out of your sights" Height said to the Cloister Black 'I' on her monitor.

_'Well that's just great... I can't contact her like this... I'll just have to rely on her...'_ Quarender thought _'I have to keep it so that there's absolutely no suspicion against me.'_

"Shouldn't we take this opportunity to capture her?" Ide asked "It's obvious by now that she's O-Kira."

"No, it's not," Height replied "She could just be an ally of O-Kira's. On the contrary, if we capture her then we could lose our chance of capturing O-Kira."

_'Height... you just don't want to face the fact that your friend is O-Kira, do you?' _Quarender thought _'You're way too soft... you're not cut out for the job of being L. This softness will be your downfall.'_

"An ally of O-Kira's? But who else could have..." Ide paused "...killed Aizawa...?"

"Olivy could have been doing the killings for O-Kira or sent the name and face. Either that or... O-Kira is among the people in this van" Height responded.

_'Huh, now I really need to be careful to not draw any suspicion towards myself'_ Quarender thought.

"Well... it makes sense that Olivy could just be an ally of O-Kira's," Matsuda agreed "That and if Illicit tried to capture Olivy and she wrote his name on a Death Note scrap..."

"Yes, we can't endanger Illicit like that" Height agreed.

An 'R' flashed on to the monitor.

"L, this is Rash! I spotted Kaylie!" he said.

"Keep it down, dumbass" Slink snapped.

"Yes, that isn't the kind of thing you should go screaming your head off about" Volcon agreed.

"Ok, we'll need somebody who can apprehend Kaylie easily," Quarender said "Gyro, you head over there. Yui, Slink, Rash, Illicit, maintain your positions and keep an eye on things... on second thought, Rash, we'll prepare a hotel room for you and Slink can stay at the branch."

"Oh come on, I make one mistake and now I'm a liability?" Rash sighed.

"Right, I'll make my way over there" Gyro agreed.

_'Olivy... it's up to you now... can you pull this off?'_ Quarender worried _'Can you get to Kaylie before they do?'_


	21. Coffee sandwich

Illicit was standing in a corridor, keeping his gaze around the corner.

_'Stealth has never been so... boring before'_ he thought to himself.

Derek was slouched on a sofa. Illicit saw Olivy come over to sit next to him.

"Hey Derek..." she said.

"Yeah, what is it?" he asked.

"I don't like it here."

_'She doesn't like it here? No... she's got to be up to something'_ Illicit thought.

"Why's that?" Derek asked her.

"Well, I like you Derek," Olivy said "I just don't like a lot of the people here."

"Yeah, girls who are like you don't tend to. Hmm... I'll drive you to another branch, OK?" Derek replied.

"OK!"

"This is bad, L..." Illicit whispered "Olivy's got Derek to agree to drive her to another branch..."

* * *

"Isn't she a crafty one?" Quarender commented at the Southampton airport.

"Oh man, now she could meet up with A-Kira!" Matsuda whined.

"...Gyro, you're already on your way to the South Hope street branch, aren't you?" Height asked, starting to sweat.

* * *

"Indeed I am" Gyro said as he walked through the street "But it's only on foot..."

* * *

"Well... unlike her we actually _know_ where Kaylie is," Height continued "That's an advantage."

_'And unlike Gyro, Olivy's being driven. That's an advantage, too,' _Quarender thought _'You're acting cocky now but your sweating tells a different story, Height...'_

* * *

"This is Illicit. Olivy's getting in the car... obviously I can't get in after her... and I don't have my own car..." Illicit said from the doorway of the branch's garage.

"Away we go then" Derek said, starting up his car.

* * *

_'One side knows where Kaylie is... the other has a quicker method of getting there...' _Quarender thought _'This is risky for both of us... Olivy... I guess the reason you didn't ask the specific question of what branch Kaylie is at is because you were afraid that they'd inform her and she'd be worried that you're an L and get the jump on you. That would be a risk, too.'_

* * *

Some time later, at the South Hope branch, Kaylie was on the sofa slurping coffee as usual.

"Kaylie Autumn?" one of two men asked, coming up behind her.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Can we have a word?"

"Ooh, sounds like you're in trouble" Cilly said.

_'What's this about?'_ Kaylie wondered _'Whatever, I doubt it's anything that important.'_

"Sure" Kaylie said and followed them to a different room.

"I'm Mitch Frame" the one who had spoken first said.

"And I'm Spark Seed" the other said.

"Kaylie... if what we think is true then you've got a lot of enemies who could be coming after you," Mitch continued "Please understand that what we are about to ask you is because we have every intention of working together with you for our mutual benefit and because we want to keep you from harm."

_'What...? What is this about? Maybe... they know I was involved with the incident at The Line? Yeah, that's fully possible... with enough research into me they could have found out about me going missing around that time... this could be about my connection to I-Kira, Sliver, couldn't it?' _Kaylie thought.

"OK?" Mitch asked.

"OK What do you want to ask?" Kaylie replied.

"Do you possess the powers of Kira?" Spark asked.

_'H-how did they come to suspect something like that? And how am I going to answer? What if they try to use me or blackmail me?' _Kaylie thought.

She looked down at her coffee mug, which was almost empty.

"I need to get another cup of coffee" she said, pretending not to hear them as she walked into the kitchen, hoping they didn't notice her shaking hands.

"Someone's panicky" Mitch muttered.

"We've got someone else stationed at the other door to the kitchen in case she tries to get away, anyway" Spark replied.

* * *

Kaylie was alone at the worktop in the kitchen, save for Cilly.

"I wonder how they knew that" Cilly said.

_'I shouldn't have left any traces with my kills... I killed Henry through accidental death so they shouldn't have been able to use even that against me...' _Kaylie pondered _'Is it safe to leave them alive? No, this seems way too formal... it must be the work of the second Hound. If those two die then I'll be admitting I'm Kira... not only that, I can't even be sure they didn't use aliases. Obviously it'd be pointless making the eye trade to make sure, when Hound's just using these two...'_

Kaylie slurped down the last of her coffee and began to prepare her next cup.

_'If I admitted to being Kira and helped them out... they could just take the notebook off of me. But what if I could kill without using anything they could see?'_ Kaylie turned to look at Cilly.

"Cilly... would you be willing to kill people I tell you to?"

"Aw, come on, that'd be cheating!" Cilly whined.

"C'mon, I really need you to. I can't say no to them because if they keep an eye on me they'll see me take out the notebook. And if I work with them they could steal it..." Kaylie whispered.

"Why are you thinking about this so negatively?" Cilly asked "You'd be better protected by this really strong gang if you just let them help."

Kaylie paused.

"I'm just used to people being untrustworthy... and the members of this gang act like ordinary people" she answered.

"But as a group they're different," Cilly said "They represent the new world that you're helping to carve."

"...you've been getting too much of the second hand smoke around here," Kaylie uttered "You might be right though..."

"Hey, why's that person creeping up on you?" Cilly asked.

Kaylie took a glance over her shoulder to confirm that somebody was indeed doing just that and pretty swiftly too. Kaylie took her pistol from her pocket and fired, the gunshot ringing through the air. But the perpetrator had moved aside when she moved her arm.

"What do you think you're doing?" Kaylie asked.

"So you knew I was coming... did the shinigami tell you, perhaps?" Gyro asked.


	22. Three handed bipolar zombie

"What was that?" Spark exclaimed at the loud bang that came from the kitchen.

"Pretty sure that was a gunshot" Mitch said, heading towards the origin of the sound.

* * *

Gyro didn't waste any more time. Kaylie aimed her pistol again but not before Gyro closed the gap between them. And then in one swift motion, he struck her shoulder and caught her in one arm as she fell unconscious.

_'Now that she's fired the gun, I'll be caught in no time if I try to get out...'_ Gyro thought and then opened a cupboard door and squeezed inside with Kaylie, closing it after him. There was very little space and the body heat from Kaylie was making him sweat even more than such a stressful situation would normally make him sweat.

* * *

Mitch, Spark and the man standing guard at the other entrance to the kitchen came into the kitchen. Gyro could hear them through the cupboard door.

"This is not good at all, L" he whispered "I need back-up."

* * *

On the plane, Height sat next to no one. Quarender sat next to Mitt. Rester sat next to Granite. Guard sat next to Sabitha. Ide sat next to Iron. Matsuda sat next to Decken. Yamamoto sat next to Volcon.

People were freely chatting on cellphones. The stewards on the plane looked worried, unable to act against their rowdiness. The slightest display of authoritative behaviour put their lives in danger. They even wore masks to be extra careful.

"This is making me sick. The fear spread by the first Kira looks tame compared to this" Ide whispered.

"Commander Rester," Quarender said to him over the transceiver "Do you still have contact with the anti-Kira people you hired around November 10 years ago?"

"Not all of them," he replied "I had hired 806 of them and was only able to maintain contact with 110 of those people. 86 of those 110 people live in LA."

"Then 86 will have to do. Get them over to help Gyro immediately" Quarender said.

_'It's better that I get him to assemble forces I've already researched. If Height had other people in reserve this wouldn't go as well...'_ Quarender thought, feeling her coin pendant with her fingertips.

* * *

"Hey Carlton, did anyone slip past you?" Mitch asked the man who had been keeping watch at the other entrance to the kitchen.

"What do you take me for? Of course they didn't!" he replied.

"Then whoever fired that gun and took Kaylie is somewhere in this room..." Spark concluded.

"No way..." Carlton uttered, looking around.

"Yes way. We'll just have to search the whole room" Mitch retorted.

* * *

"When's that back-up coming, L?" Gyro whispered, wiping sweat off his forehead.

"It's heading there as fast as it can," came Height's reply "Try to stall any way you can. And if you really have to... use that gun."

"I understand," Gyro responded "If it comes down to it... I can stretch things out."

* * *

_'I wouldn't doubt that, you little bastard,' _Quarender thought _'I wasn't expecting to see any of these kids being used by Height.'_

* * *

Gyro watched the cupboard door in front of him, anticipating it being swung open. He could hear the footsteps of the three men, making their way around the kitchen, swinging doors open, sighing slightly when there was nothing. He knew he had the reflexes to knock whoever opened his door out before they could alert the others, yet still his heart was pounding against his ribs like there was no tomorrow. And in all honesty, Gyro doubted there would be a tomorrow for him. Even if he knocked one out, he'd only be able to stretch things out by using the gun for so long. Just how many more minutes until that back-up arrived? Minutes... was he honestly supposed to wait minutes? At that moment, he really resented the girl he was holding. If she had never fired that gun... or if he had only been able to stop her from doing so... though he knew that would have been impossible.

Then came the moment the cupboard door opened. Almost instantaneously, Gyro's hand flew to Carlton's shoulder and knocked him unconscious. Gyro seized his shoulders, keeping him in place, creating the illusion for the other two that Carlton was still surveying the inside of the cupboard.

"Hey, Carlton? What's so interesting about that cupboard?" Mitch asked and approached him, along with Spark.

_'It looks like that's as long as I'll be able to stall with that technique...' _Gyro thought.

Once the footsteps sounded close enough, Gyro pushed the unconscious Carlton to the floor and held up Kaylie's pistol, promptly shooting Mitch and Spark in their heads.

_'Well that settles it... things are about to get really heated around here' _Gyro thought as he clambered out of the cupboard, pulling Kaylie with him.

He rushed out of the kitchen the way Carlton came in, leaving the busier room to swarm in through the other entrance. He ducked behind a sofa in the room he found himself in, dreading the eventuality of Kaylie waking up. He could hear a bunch of voices coming from the kitchen and yet more people rushing to investigate.

"This isn't good at all, L" he whispered.

"We just got word from back-up. You're safe, Gyro" came Height's reply.

* * *

_'No, you're not,'_ Quarender thought _'I already wrote in the details of the death. I hadn't wrote a name before since I didn't know who'd be there. But now I do...'_

Quarender kept her eye on Mitt as she turned the pendant. Swiftly, she slid off the front of the coin, took the pen and scribbled down the name 'Lily Bow'. She stuffed the pen and scrap back into their place and tightened the front of the pendant back on.

_'I'm glad it's Mitt I'm sitting next to. If it was somebody like Height, Commander Rester, Guard or Volcon... this wouldn't be any where near as easy'_ she thought.

* * *

Gyro felt relief sweep over him as he heard the commotion of the 86 people rush into the place. Gyro quickly made his way towards the exit, Kaylie under arm, his pistol held tightly.

* * *

_'Lily Bow, gunshot wounds. February 10__th__ 2019, 5: 37 PM. Mistakes the man holding a girl captive for a member of The Pack and badly wounds him with her gun. Picks up a notebook belonging to the girl and takes her to the Stonestroke warehouse, letting the girl have the notebook. Is shot by a member of The Pack and killed later on'_ Quarender went over what she wrote in her mind. She was certain that everything would go perfectly with this. It would lead to Gyro's demise, too.

* * *

Gyro fell to the floor, having been shot several times by Lily.

"L... I've been shot..." he grunted.

Lily took Kaylie before she fell.

"I can't even imagine the story behind this," Lily said "You make me sick."

She then ducked behind a chair, under fire from members of The Pack.

"We'll get one of our people to escort you out" Height said to Gyro.

"No, I wouldn't want to endanger the attack on this place," Gyro said, crawling towards the exit, which was no longer occupied "I'll be able to get to a hospital... the wounds are bad but everyone's preoccupied, I won't be shot... the only problem is that someone took Kaylie."

* * *

"Well that's not good..." Height sighed "I'll have to tell the others to get her back."

_'The Death Note can't fail, Height... no one will be able to take Kaylie from her'_ Quarender thought.

* * *

Things were getting heated downstairs, so Lily took Kaylie upstairs. She took refuge in somebody's bedroom, only to stumble and fall against a set of drawers. One of the drawers fell out with Kaylie's Death Note inside.

_'A notebook?' _Lily thought, then put it into her jacket pocket _'That might come in handy...'_

Lily looked down at the unconscious Kaylie in her arms and then got to her feet.

* * *

Gyro swung open the front door and then limped down the street. A few minutes later, Lily got out through the same door with Kaylie in her arms and sprinted down the street in the opposite direction.

* * *

Minutes later, Height spoke into the transceiver to her people at the branch again.

"Is there really no sign of Kaylie Autumn yet?"

"Sorry, L... none of the corpses resemble her and we've searched every corner of the place for somewhere she could be hiding... we also couldn't find any notebooks resembling the one you described."

"This is a bother..." Height sighed "She must have got away."

_'No, Height. I _took _her away. This is my victory...' _Quarender smirked.


	23. Circuit

The SPK and the Japanese task force were back at the base in LA they had moved to before their flight to Winchester. Height was sat at the monitoring station, running her fingers through the hair of a white wolf by her legs. The door opened and in came Rester and Guard.

"We searched the base we were at previously top to bottom but there was no sign of the notebook" Rester reported.

"I didn't expect there to be," Height responded "After all, there was no sign of it in this building either."

"Any little girl would be happy to have their own killer notebook," Zellogi interjected "'course she'd hide it well!"

"But Olivy hasn't been seen writing in it either, right?" Decken asked, beginning to approach Height but then stepping back again out of fear of the wolf "Right... you know, I really liked it better when you were a cat person."

"I never stopped being a cat person. I'm just looking after a wolf this time, instead..." Height replied then tapped one of the switches in front of her "Illicit, has anything changed with Olivy at all?"

"Nada. I've been keeping a watch on her as usual... it isn't easy though. She's so cautious, like she expected somebody to follow her... I get so scared that I never sleep in the same branch as her. Creepiest kid ever..." the 'I' on one of the monitors, Illicit, replied.

"I suppose anyone could seem creepy in a situation like yours," Height said, then flicked another switch "Anything new, Slink?"

"Nope. I'm pretty much just chilling out _waiting _for things to develop. Not bad here though, I must say..." Slink answered.

"Nice to mix work and pleasure, isn't it?" Height said "Um... you are still taking this seriously though, aren't you?"

"Of course I am" he replied.

"Very good," Height said and then pressed a third switch "Yui? Anything new?"

"The habits of these people are so interesting!" Yui giggled "But nothing new related to the investigation. Sorry!"

"OK, keep me posted..." Height said, flicking the switch off and then turning to see Rash sitting on the couch, with quite a heavily bandaged Gyro beside him "I'm sorry that things got so dangerous, Gyro."

"Don't be. I knew they would," Gyro replied "I was actually prepared to die..."

_'Then why didn't you?' _Quarender thought _'Oh well, not like it matters. Things are still going well.'_

"We missed our chance to capture Kaylie, so we'll just keep monitoring Olivy for now. There's always the chance that she's either O-Kira, an accomplice of O-Kira or is being controlled by the notebook" Height said.

"Stop saying things like that," Ide snapped, coming to Height's side "It's obvious at this point that something's up with Olivy. I think you're just afraid to admit it."

"We can't go jumping to conclusions like that, Mr. Ide..." Height responded "No mere possibility is 'obvious'."

"I never trusted L enough to work with him in person," Ide said "I didn't trust him at all. And the same goes for his successors. I'm only working with you now to avenge Aizawa's death. And you're stepping all over that by not facing the fact that Olivy is a murderer."

"Come on Ide, we can't be sure about that..." Matsuda approached him from behind "I mean, she's just a little girl."

"Matsuda..." Ide turned to face him "As I recall, you were the only member of the task force who didn't suspect the original Kira for even a second. So I don't think you have any place in this conversation."

"Let's not be contentious about this. It will only stir up negativity. If Olivy is as guilty as you say, it will become clear soon enough" Height said.

"It already _is_ clear," Ide responded "And it would be even clearer if you hadn't let Olivy get away back in Winchester. Aizawa died because of _you_."

Everyone was silent for a while. And then Height got to her feet.

"I don't like how it feels in here. I'm getting some fresh air. Commander Rester, mind Red won't you?" then she walked out the door without waiting for an answer. Sure enough though, Rester occupied her chair and stroked the wolf in Height's place.

Ide let out a heavy sigh and put his hands to his head, walking across the room.

"Before anybody says anything, I know..." he said "I went too far."

"I won't disagree with you there" Quarender said and then walked out after Height.

"Ide..." Matsuda placed a hand on his shoulder "Don't worry. I know how you feel. Besides, it's not like you went as far as I did the last time I blamed somebody for the death of a person I was close to."

* * *

Height was stood outside, her back against the building, staring up at the moon. Quarender approached her and Height didn't move an inch. Quarender hugged her but it wasn't returned.

"The death of Mr. Aizawa wasn't anyone's fault," Quarender said "None of the deaths were. They were all because of the Death Note. Nothing else. Just that terrible notebook."

"Yes, you're right..." Height replied.

* * *

The pace of the investigation wasn't improving until days later. On the 12th of February, at 10: 14 AM, Height and the hawk perched on her arm bore witness to the familiar 'I' pop up on to a monitor with a couple of beeps.

"L, this could be big," Illicit said "Olivy's left the building alone and seems to be heading somewhere."

"Finally some action," Granite commented "Now that's what I'm talking about."

"Not a moment to lose, everyone," Height said "This could be our ticket to the notebook."


	24. Plate

Illicit kept following Olivy, ducking behind anything available, his gaze constantly on her.

"We're thinking the same thing then, L?" Illicit asked.

* * *

"Yep. She's heading towards the notebook," Height said "Obviously we can't let her get her hands on it..."

"She has to be intercepted immediately. She's far closer to us than to the anti-Kira people we hired so we must do it ourselves" Quarender said, with a tone of urgency.

"Oh boy, if she gets her hands on that notebook..." Matsuda whined.

"It could be bad" Height said, rising to her feet.

"To the L mobile!" Matsuda cried.

Reluctantly on cue, everyone dashed for the garage.

"I'd say that was in bad taste, Matsuda-san. This is a dangerous situation, after all" Yamamoto said.

"Sorry, I couldn't resist..." he replied.

* * *

Once in the garage, the team got into the van. Commander Rester started the vehicle up and it was out of there, rushing down the road to intercept Olivy.

In very little time, the van was waiting around the corner for Olivy.

"We can't just swarm out of the van to get her, that wouldn't be safe. So we'll wait for her to come close and then one of us will pull her in quickly" Height said.

"Yeah, the streets are rough for SPK guys like us these days" Granite agreed.

"Don't forget the Japanese task force!" Matsuda added.

"Once we have Olivy captured, we'll question her about the notebook. If she has a shinigami attached to her, then that's better still" Height said "It's likely that she is at the very least being used by O-Kira, so she could quite possibly be able to tell us something useful."

_'Height...'_ Quarender thought _'You walked right into my trap.'_

She begun to cover her mouth with one hand, turning away from the group slightly. Her mind was buzzing excitedly at the prospect of her preparations paying off.

_'You did exactly what I wanted you to do. My top priority is to kill you. And I've already set things up in such a way that you will definitely die right here and now. I made sure to write specific conditions of death when I killed Lily Bow. I specified that Kaylie would be brought to the Stonestroke warehouse. The sole purpose of this was so that I could contact her. If I knew where she was, I could meet up with her later on. Height, this is where you failed as an opponent. You said you suspected that one of us could be O-Kira or at the very least an important associate of theirs' and yet I was able to meet with Kaylie at the warehouse and organise the plan that will come to fruition today. With this, Kira wins.'_

* * *

A few days ago, Kaylie was visited at the Stonestroke warehouse. It was Quarender who was visiting her.

"Long time no see," Quarender said "Not that we saw much of each other."

"I remember you," Kaylie replied "The mascot for Sliver's little clubhouse, right?"

"Sliver doesn't have anything any more though, now does he?" Quarender asked.

"You're right about that," Kaylie agreed "Well Katie, what brings you to my humble abode?"

"Katie Smith is just an alias. I'm known as Quarender these days," she replied "Although, that's an alias, too. To be safe though, you should probably call me something else. What do you like?"

"Coffee" Kaylie answered.

"Right then, call me Coffee" Quarender decided.

"That sounds good but... when are you going to get round to answering my question?" Kaylie asked.

"I just wanted to get a few things out of the way first," Quarender said "Kaylie, I know you have the Death Note. But don't worry, I'm on your side. I'm on the side of the Kira who kills criminals, too."

"Alright. I've got no problems with the other Kira. I just wouldn't use their methods, personally" Kaylie replied.

"I'm actually part of the anti-Kira team that L is associated with and I'm one of the two people who has inherited the name of L. But I obviously have no intention of helping those fools. I'm a mole to the end. As such, I want to work together with you to bring an end to their actions. I'm certain that they'll take precautions under any circumstances, though. At the very least, a few of them could be able to get away if they're attacked. When they look back on what happened earlier and notice I hadn't been targeted, it will be pretty obvious what role I play. They won't all die immediately. It's not like they're all major threats, anyway. The other L is the only one who can't be allowed to interfere any longer," Quarender continued "Kaylie, I was able to rescue you by taking control of Lily with my Death Note scrap. The rest is up to you. Contact Hound and let him know that you have the powers of Kira. Also... tell him to contact a small girl within The Pack known as Olivy. She needs to know that an old friend who helped her escape from some troublesome cops wants to help her get her notebook back..."

"So this little girl's killing criminals?" Kaylie asked "I guess with the Death Note, murder really is child's play."

"She doesn't have the Death Note with her right now," Quarender said "She's under surveillance at this time but we'll use that to lead L to her under the pretence that she's heading towards the notebook. It will be a decoy location so that they still have no clue where the notebook is. And then..."

* * *

"...those are the coordinates," Quarender whispered into her transceiver "Kill her now."

She brought her hand down from her mouth, looking over at Height at the other end of the van.

_'It's been funny watching you squirm, Height. But now it's time for you to join the other idiots who stood against Kira' _Quarender thought.

Mitt was sat keeping an eye on the monitors showing the outside of the van and its surrounding area. His heart skipped a beat as he noticed a red spot of light appear on the side of the van on one of the security monitors. With no time to warn anybody, he acted with haste, springing to his feet and barging into Height, sending her sprawling...

But he wasn't fast enough. The side of the van's interior ended up splattered with blood.


	25. Towers

"You're quite the thinker," Kaylie said some days ago, taking her Death Note out from a crate "I'll let you acquaint yourself with my shinigami."

Quarender touched the held out notebook and looked up at Cilly as she came into sight.

"Hi there. Just to clarify, I'm Coffee right now" Quarender said.

"Hiya, Coffee. I'm Cilly," she replied "Kaylie doesn't have the shinigami eyes so if you ever get so mixed up with all your names, I'm the one to ask what your real name is, OK?"

"I'll keep that in mind," Quarender said "But until then my real name has to be kept under wraps. I've no use for it."

"In the Death Note business, your real name is just an inconvenience, isn't it?" Kaylie asked.

"It sure is. But it's nice to know other people's real names," Quarender agreed "Real names are the key to using the notebook to kill. I won't ever need to write Height's real name, however."

* * *

Height was lying on her back, blood oozing from her head. Mitt was on his knees, his eyes bulging, his knees hands shaking, his lips quivering.

"Oh... oh my God..." Decken whispered "There's so much blood..."

_'Looking good, Height'_ Quarender thought, betraying her shocked expression.

"It was a trap!" Guard shouted "What are you waiting for, Rester!? Get back to the base!"

"Hold on!" Volcon cut in "In the event that Height's still alive, we've got to cover for her."

Volcon and Sabitha carefully lifted Height, then strapped her to a stretcher.

"'kay, now go" Sabitha said.

The van sped down the road.

"Illicit in danger, too," Quarender said "We've got to-"

"L. With all due respect, we can't just do as you say. Not any more" Volcon interrupted.

"Wha...?" Quarender sweated _'No way... did she notice something? Did I overlook something and incriminate myself? No, that's impossible! Unless Height was hiding something from me? Did she suspect me and tell the others?'_

"We can't follow the orders of anybody here," Volcon said "This confirms Height's suspicions. Olivy knew that she was being monitored... because one of us is on her side."

Now Quarender wasn't the only one sweating. Everybody was sweating. The trust between them all hitting the ground was almost audible.

"Then... what do we do?" Matsuda asked.

"We'll have to work under somebody else from this point on. A third party, to be precise" Volcon continued.

"You mean... from Wammy's House?" Guard asked.

"Indeed. We need another L" Volcon confirmed.

"Right. Until then, we shouldn't make any movements. We should all just stay put at headquarters" Guard replied.

"That is the proper course of action," Quarender agreed _'Fine by me... there's not a single thing to worry about. After all, now that Height's out of the way, taking care of the rest of you will be a snap.'_

* * *

At headquarters, Rester exited the medical room Height was in, who was lying on a bed unconscious.

"She's alive," he said "But there's no way of knowing when she'll awaken... we've already done everything we can. We've got everything we need here, so it's no loss to avoid going to the hospital. And with the influence of A-Kira and The Pack, not even the hospital is safe for known offenders of Kira these days."

"Dammit..." Mitt slumped down on to a sofa, his head down, his hand on his forehead "Height... she was right... I hate to say it but she was right... one of us is a traitor..."

Iron joined him on the sofa.

"You really surprised me, Mitt," he said "That was a brave thing you did. You saved her life."

"Barely..." Mitt responded "She could have died... how can these people do this? Killing so many of their own kind?"

"A-Kira... O-Kira... STFU-Kira... how many of them they are... and whatever they're called, they're all insane murderers," Iron said "All scum."

_'You just can't see the bigger picture,' _Quarender thought _'I pity you.'_

* * *

Rester, Guard and Volcon were sitting in front of a laptop that night, the 'W' insignia of the second Watari facing them.

"So it's already come down to this" Roger said from his command station.

"With three Ls, I didn't think we would have to be choosing an heir already," Rester said "But in this situation, no one person who is among us can be trusted. Height had already made that much clear."

"I already have a successor in mind. Commander Rester, you were there at the time... it's who Near would want" Roger replied.

* * *

"Judging by the snapshot I took then deleted of them all, three kids stand out to me" Near said, surrounded by towers of tarot cards.

"The nasty look in their eyes..." Lidner murmured "It's what L would have used to choose them."

"If I am correct and these three are the top kids of the current generation of Wammy's house..." Near said "I will stop chasing L's shadow."

"Near, their data shows that they..." Rester said as Near listened intently, circling the 'Empress' tarot card with his fingers "...are indeed the top three students of Wammy's House. Height has near perfect scores, with Olivy just behind her. And behind them..."

* * *

"At that time, Near made it clear that he wanted both Height and Olivy to succeed him," Rester recalled "Although he had shown interest in the one who had ranked third, as well."

"That's correct," Roger said "None of the three Ls have picked a successor so it's definitely wise to choose Near's third pick. I'll notify Vera now."

* * *

The chosen person stood before Vera's desk, meeting an intense gaze.

"Given recent circumstances," Vera said "You have been appointed as the seventh L."


	26. Caverns

Derek was sitting on an armchair when Kaylie walked into the room to accompany him, closing the door behind her.

"How did it go with Coffee?" he asked.

"It didn't 'go' at all," Kaylie sighed, sitting opposite him "Get somebody to make me a coffee."

"Bring up a coffee now" Derek said into his transceiver "So, she wasn't there?"

"Yeah, how rude can you get?" Kaylie confirmed "I have no idea whether her little plan worked now."

"She _is_ in a tough spot right now, working with the enemy and all" Cilly added.

"Your friend's right," Derek nodded "Though, I won't deny that this is annoying."

* * *

Quarender was sat on a couch at headquarters, out of sight of everyone else.

_'I can't contact Kaylie or the others directly right now. But I still have my ways of sending them messages' _she thought, writing on the scrap in her pendant.

* * *

In a private room of a branch of The Pack, somebody was speaking to Hound II using a headset.

"Yeah, even though he's from a rival gang he waltzed right on in then died of a heart attack. He was holding a note saying 'Even when I tackle a problem it will only be resting and can resurface at any time. Something will replace it before then'" he reported.

* * *

"Thanks for that, Jake" Hound II responded.

He was sat opposite Kaylie, both drinking coffee. Hound II switched off his headset.

"That's a message from Coffee right there" Hound II commented.

"I'd say you're right about that" Kaylie agreed "She mustn't be able to move too freely right now."

"From this, I gather Height is hurt and down but not out" Hound II theorised "And they're looking for a replacement for now."

"It's a shame that Olivy can't hear any of this" Kaylie said.

"It'd disturb her too much" Hound II replied "Maybe if she was a little older we could tell her that we've hospitalised her best friend but were trying to kill her."

"This isn't something I ever wanted to be involved with" Kaylie commented "I hope it's over with soon."

* * *

In the early hours of the morning, Quarender turned her attention to the 'W' popping up on the wall mounted monitor with two, loud beeps.

"Do you mind? I was trying to sleep" Matsuda groaned, sitting up from a couch and rubbing his eyes.

"My apologies for the early call" Roger said "The 7th L would like to talk to you now."

_'So they've been chosen...' _Quarender thought _'I have a feeling about who it is...'_

The 'W' left the screen and was replaced by a 'C'.

_'...and that feeling was correct. It's only natural that they'd choose the one with the third best grades,' _Quarender thought _'Composer... you're a fool for getting involved.'_

* * *

"Good morning" Composer said from her command station, circling her chess board with her king piece "It's a pleasure to be working with you."

* * *

"Likewise" Quarender replied.

* * *

"I want to get one thing out of the way for starters. I won't meet you in person," Composer continued, swapping the king's place with a rook "I'll continue to communicate like this. To be completely safe..."

* * *

_'Hiding, huh? It won't save you,' _Quarender thought _'The manipulation power of the Death Note is a strong one. I'll use Olivy to kill you or failing that, the brute force of The Pack.'_

* * *

"Another message..." Hound II mused to Kaylie "'What is needed to carry things out was left behind long ago. Can you say who it belongs to? Everyone who is in the know, will be getting it back at this time.'"

"So Olivy's getting back her notebook, huh?" Kaylie asked "Away we go then."

Kaylie slurped down the rest of her coffee and set it on the table. She got to her feet.

"She'll be a bit less lonely than she was during the little rehearsal yesterday," Cilly said "Since we're all going for the notebook together!"

* * *

Quarender lifted her head as the 'I' blinked on to the screen.

"What is it, Illicit?" Volcon asked.

"See for yourselves" he replied and the insignia on the monitor was replaced by a live feed of what Illicit was recording, namely a bird's eye view of Olivy, Hound II, Kaylie, Derek, Jake and one other man walking through an underground tunnel. Illicit was recording from a walkway high up on the wall.

"For them to all move out together like this..." Illicit commented "It must be something big."

"Yes, that can't be denied..." Rester agreed.

"In fact... they must be heading for the notebook" Illicit decided.

"I agree," Quarender replied _'What the hell is this...? I didn't send them any such orders! What do they think they're doing, just all going out together in such a way...? No... it couldn't be... but there's no other explanation. Composer must have tricked them somehow. No one else could have set them up. Obviously I can't ask her about it, that would be as good as giving myself up... no other way to settle this, then... I have to kill Composer immediately.'_

'C' flickered on to another monitor.

"Well, this is certainly a sticky situation, isn't it?" Composer asked "If we don't do something, they'll get to the notebook."

_'Acting all oblivious like that...'_ Quarender thought, turning away and fiddling with her pendant.

"But what are supposed to do?" Matsuda asked "They might have back-up nearby and what if we don't get there in time...?"

"Considering the small group they're moving in, only these 6 people must know of the notebook," Quarender said, fiddling with her top "Illicit... Olivy is the main threat right now. Keep the camera zoomed in on her, specifically from the back facing towards her front. Just in case she tries to write something..."

"Well..." Illicit murmured.

"That makes perfect sense to me," Composer agreed "We need to keep our eyes peeled in case she tries to write something."

"This sure is a tense situation," one of The Pack members at the tunnel said "But no matter what... we need to keep ourselves composed."

Immediately after saying that, he grunted in pain as he succumbed to a heart attack. He hit the ground on his front with a thud, his comrades looking shocked... but only Olivy with an expression of understanding and resolve.

"A hidden message!?" Rester gasped.

* * *

Olivy pulled her notebook scrap and pen from her teddy bear's eye then quickly started writing.

_'Quarender was definitely using the power of the Death Note to talk to me. That can't have been a coincidence! She wants me to make a move and fast... and from her wording, it's obviously Composer who's trying to make trouble, so it's her who's going to die,' _Olivy thought _'I saw her name daily back at Wammy's House. Killing her will be easy peasy.'_

* * *

"No! She's going to...!" Mitt choked.

_'There really is no point in finishing that sentence' _Quarender thought _'The only thing left for Composer now is death.'_


	27. Shape

Olivy's pen transferred its ink on to the scrap. She was writing quickly, amidst the horror from The Pack at the death of their fallen comrade. But the pen's writing was cut short, as a deafening gunshot pierced the almost silent atmosphere of the tunnel, and Olivy's teddy bear was carried through the air, notebook scrap and all, by a speeding bullet. It hit the wall, Olivy staring in disbelief with her pen in hand. Express burst out of the shadows and quickly emptied a carton of gasoline over the teddy bear, then lit a match and dropped it all within the space of a second. She was gone into the shadows again and around the corner as the flaming teddy bear sizzled away.

"What the hell?" Hound II exclaimed and chucked a grenade up at the walkway in the direction of the gunshot.

The resulting explosion blasted open a chunk of the wall and split the walkway. Slink fell down and hit the ground hard, dropping his sniper rifle.

"Son of a bitch" Derek said, taking out his pistol.

Slink looked up and panicked. He reached for his sniper rifle but he was far too slow. Derek shot him a single time in the forehead.

* * *

"What's the meaning of this, Composer?" Quarender asked. "Slink was supposed to be stationed at another branch."

"Forgive me for hiding things from you but I can't trust any of you. We just saw Olivy receive a coded message, after all..." Composer responded. "I didn't think Slink would die though... Twist, have you got the notebook?"

* * *

"Yeah, I searched the whole room and I found it. I just made my way back to the surface" Twist said, running down the street to a parked car, Olivy's Death Note in his hand.

He opened the car door and got into the seat besides the driver, who was Dig. Dig started up the car and it sped down the road.

"That's quite the book you've picked up" Dig said.

"Tell me about it," Twist agreed and opened it. "It looks like some of the pages have been removed, though..."

* * *

"That's no surprise. Having her handwriting in there would be pretty incriminating..." Composer said, taking out a queen with a knight.

_'What now, Kira? I've rendered your only means of killing me useless...'_ she thought.

* * *

Derek stamped out the flames of Olivy's burnt teddy but the damage was already done. All that was left of it was some blackened fabric.

"I'm sorry..." he said, turning to Olivy.

"Thank you..." Olivy replied, kneeling next to the fabric and picking it up. "It still exists... even if it's not quite the same..."

Derek could hear that she was holding back tears. He sighed. It had been Billy's idea to take this kid in... Derek had been against it. The life of a front line member of The Pack wasn't one for a child. He rested his hand on her head.

"This asshole!" Jake cried, kicking Slink's corpse. "Am I right!? Derek, you're one cool guy."

"There's no time for that. I wouldn't be surprised if they have yet more back up on its way and we're in a vulnerable position right now. We have to get to the exit" Hound II said.

"I'm still not sure whether it would have been better to bring my notebook" Kaylie said and followed Hound II as he started walking.

* * *

"After all that, they could get away?" Matsuda whined.

"I wouldn't be completely certain about that" Composer corrected. "I already have the SPK's troops at every exit. Capture them by any means necessary..."

_'I did think it was odd... I'm still unsure of how she even led them here...' _Quarender thought. "Composer. You had a decent set up here. It's almost as if you knew that they were coming."

"That's correct..." Composer agreed, sliding forward some pawns. "I knew they would be here because I told them to go here."

_'I knew it...'_ Quarender thought. "You did...?"

"I used our troops to capture a member of a rival gang. A coded note was placed in his pocket and then I had him enter one of the branches" Composer explained.

_'There's more to it than that... if he didn't die, surely The Pack wouldn't even try to decipher the message,'_ Quarender pondered. "But that method alone..."

"He also unknowingly had been wired up in a specific way while he was unconscious..." Composer continued. "Once he got into the base, I gave him the shock of his life. It caused him to have a fatal heart attack... and The Pack was completely duped."

"You did what!?" Ide yelled "You're just like Kira!"

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," Composer retorted. "I can't pull my punches. I must use any method necessary to dispose of the notebooks and capture those in control of them."

"But to go so far..." Mitt said. "This isn't what I signed up for."

"Then leave. I'm the one in charge now. If you don't like how I do things, that's too bad" Composer replied.

_'Composer... I didn't expect you to go so far. What you did was a perfect mock-up of how I had been contacting them. I'll have to do things differently from now on...'_ Quarender thought. _'But don't be so sure that your reign will last, Composer. My ways of dealing with you are many and if I make the right movements, it's impossible to catch me in the act. The only way to stop me is to gain irrefutable evidence that I'm in cahoots with Kira.'_

"I don't believe this..." Mitt slumped on to a sofa. "I hate to sound like a broken record but... this really is too much. Even our side is murdering now...?"

"I understand why she'd go to such lengths," Iron said. "Beggars can't be choosers. If it leads to the defeat of Kira, it's fine."

* * *

Hound II lowered his transceiver. Illicit had already gave up tailing him and the others for his own safety and to avoid the huge inconvenience of the broken walkway.

"Back up's on the way," Hound II said. "Olivy... I gathered that Robert's death was because Coffee was trying to get you to kill somebody?"

Olivy nodded.

"What a disgusting method..." Hound II commented. "Using one of my people like that."

"I can understand why she'd do that," Jake said. "We're dealing with somebody dangerous if they organised all of this."

"Jake..." Hound II sighed, then whipped out his pistol and blew his comrade's brains out.

"Touchy" Kaylie said.

"That's not the way that a member of The Pack speaks, Jake," Hound II continued. "No matter what, somebody who is truly loyal to me can't be killed like that. From this point on, Coffee is just as much of an enemy as L."


	28. Coffeehouse

"I don't think I can do this any more..." Mitt sighed, sitting on the sofa with his head hung. "Not follow the orders of a murderer."

"We need to, Mitt. It's to stop a mass murderer" Iron replied.

"So we're going to fight a murderer with a murderer?" Guard asked. "That is complete stupidity."

"Yeah... I'm really thinking about going" Mitt said.

"Me too, kind of" Decken agreed.

"We can't have anybody just go in and out though," Volcon said. "If you leave, you leave for good."

"Well you know what?" Rash asked. "I think I'm going to do just that. Composer's stupid plan got Slink killed. To me, she's murdered _two _people."

Quarender was stood in a corner, covering her eyes with her hands.

"Quarender..." Rester said.

"I can understand your feelings, everyone," Quarender mused. "But no matter what happens, I'll be seeing this through to the end."

Mitt got to his feet. He walked past Quarender, in the direction of the exit. And then he turned and went into the infirmary.

* * *

"Finally, somebody pays us a visit," Zellogi said, looking over at Mitt joining him beside Height's bed. "I have to be attached to the owner of the notebook. I had no idea she'd end up sleeping so much. You should all visit her more often. Do us both a favour."

"She'd want us to put our all into the case" Mitt replied, looking down at her "Not spend time watching her... I'm sure of that."

"That's not what you were saying in the other room," Zellogi said. "If you leave the HQ, you'll never visit, then I'll be even more bored. I don't _have_ to stick around, you know... although this girl's a lot cuter than that 'Xylo' guy was."

"You're right, it wasn't what I was saying," Mitt agreed. "I knew things would be tough but... I wasn't expecting this..."

Mitt and Zellogi stood by the bed together a while longer.

* * *

Quarender's hands were in the pockets of her shirt, which were fairly low down, just above the waistline. This was no coincidence. Quarender had cut holes through the bottoms of the pockets so that she could access her pendant from under her shirt. There wouldn't be any watching that.

_'I didn't think that Composer would pull something like that,' _she thought. _'I need to write this name...'_

* * *

"Coffee must die at all costs. I can't have her using my people as tools whose lives are expendable," Hound II said. "Kaylie, at some point you have to lure her out of hiding so she can be killed."

"Whatever you say" Kaylie replied.

"...when's that back-up coming?" Olivy asked as they continued to walk.

"It'll get here when it does. Don't be scared of the enemies. They're probably already lost in the tunnels" Kaylie replied. "But we're not lost... right, Hound?"

"Of course not," Hound II responded. "I know this place better than the back of my hand."

"I hope so. This place needs some repainting. It's all just grey" Kaylie said.

"Maybe," Hound II agreed. "Oh, I just got word from back-up... it's arrived."

"About time. Let's head back home, then" Derek said.

"Yeah, the idea of setting Coffee's death in motion makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside" Hound II nodded.

"That's my boss. A killer to the core" Derek replied.

"Uh... spot of bad news from my little earpiece," Hound II said. "The enemy's back-up got back-up."

"How much back-up?" Derek asked.

"...the military" Hound II sweated.

"The military!?" Derek exclaimed.

"Won't this delay your plans a little, Hound?" Kaylie asked.

"It sure will" Hound II agreed.

"The military... why the hell is the military involved?" Derek asked.

"For them to pull out such heavy forces... I can only assume..." Hound II responded. "That L has told them that the main forces behind The Pack are down here."

* * *

Quarender watched the 'C' insignia flash on to a monitor.

"Good day, everyone," Composer said, surrounded by tables of chessboards filled up with pawns. "I feel I should tell you now, since it's going to be huge news anyway."

Mitt came back into the room.

"Huge news? What is it this time?" Matsuda asked.

"The end of The Pack, O-Kira and A-Kira, all at once," Composer smirked, holding a queen, bishop and rook in the palm of her hand. "After that, it's just a case of finding our little mole."

"Wha...? What are you talking about, Composer?" Ide asked.

"I forwarded a message to the military containing the whereabouts of our little friends in the tunnels," Composer continued. "The Pack may be tough but with just the back-up they can muster from the LA branches, they're no match for the military. And once A-Kira is out of the way, they have no need to fear dying, afterwards."

"As insane as that is..." Yamamoto commented. "It sounds like it will work."

"Quite. Just one more thi-" the sound of an agonised grunt, wood crashing and splintering, a chair scraping the floor and collapsing and a chilling thud met the ears of the investigation team.

"Composer!? What was that!?" Guard exclaimed. "Composer!"

* * *

Composer couldn't answer. All she did was lay on her left side, surrounded by chess pieces and boards. Only four pieces continued to stand upright on the ground-a king, a queen, a bishop and a rook.

* * *

_'Don't waste your breath, Guard,'_ Quarender thought. _'Did you really think you could win from the big bad forces of Kira underestimating little old you, Composer? I had a plan B ready all along. You didn't question my orders towards Illicit at all. In fact, you fully embraced them, thinking that all focusing on where Olivy would write would do would ensure that she'd be incriminated. I had a tiny camera prepared and fastened it to my shirt when I saw that I was in a situation where I'd have to get Olivy to write your name. Once it recorded her trying to write your name, all I had to do was stand in the corner and discretely put the camera to my eye and review the footage. Olivy is a quick writer and Slink wasn't 100% certain where he would have to aim until she actually started writing. That gave her plenty of time to almost completely write your name. I used the footage of Illicit's perfectly angled recording to see that partially written name. Only the last letter hadn't been written and even that was mostly done. All I had to do was write the name on my notebook scrap...'_

Quarender smiled as the 'C' flickered away.

_'Checkmate, Cam Cogg.'_


	29. Slip

"Watari... the body's been taken care of..." Vera said solemnly as she stood in the graveyard, her eyes on one blank grave in particular.

"Thank you, Vera" Roger replied over the transceiver.

"She did do very well in her short time as L, didn't she?" Vera asked.

"Yes, she did" Roger agreed.

* * *

Minutes had passed at the HQ since Composer's death.

"It's clear now that anyone who's been seen by Olivy is in danger if they become L" Volcon sighed.

"Yeah. Plus, you don't get too much smarter than Composer," Granite nodded. "Even if we get another L, they won't be up to scratch with her."

"That is a fair thing to say," Roger replied. "This complicates things."

"Watari... why don't you fill the role of L for now?" Guard asked. "Nobody's seen _your_ face."

"Playing both the role of L and Watari... it's odd but alright. I will be L as well as Watari for as long as you need me to" Roger accepted.

"It's not like it hasn't been done before!" Matsuda added.

"Matsuda..." Ide sighed.

_'They're in danger right now, down in those tunnels... I'd better help them out' _Quarender thought.

* * *

"Now how do we plan to get out of a place with entrances surrounded by the military?" Kaylie asked.

"Are you people lost?" an approaching man asked the four of them. "I'll help you get out."

"What? How? Why? What?" Derek uttered.

"And did I already ask 'what'?" Kaylie added.

"Looks like Coffee's lending us another helping hand," Hound II deduced. "Ordinary people wouldn't be able to just wander through military ranks and into here under normal circumstances. They wouldn't want to, either. I don't like relying on her again after what she did but we better go with him. We don't have much of a choice in this situation."

"Um... okay?" the man replied as he laughed awkwardly "Right, come with me."

* * *

Minutes later, soldiers had every inch of the tunnel network being patrolled.

"L, there's no sign of them" one of them reported.

* * *

"Most unusual..." Roger mused. "Check the area for any secret passageways or things similar to that."

_'With just these notebooks, an entire army is rendered worthless,' _Quarender smirked. _'Olivy may have had her notebook stolen but as soon as Kaylie gets her's back, it's curtains for all these people. Olivy has the eyes and she's seen their faces, so she simply needs to write their names into Kaylie's notebook.'_

The 'I' insignia appeared on another monitor.

* * *

"Kaylie's going somewhere... alone" Illicit whispered, watching Kaylie from the other end of a hallway inside a branch of The Pack.

"There's a good chance that she's going to get her notebook, then. She probably doesn't want just anyone seeing where it was hidden" Roger responded.

"Hey, Kaylie. Some creeper's stalking you" Cilly said.

"Well, creepers do tend to be hostile," Kaylie replied, turning her head around to look behind her for a brief moment. "I couldn't see him, though."

"You didn't look for very long. Not that you should. That wouldn't go over well," Cilly responded. "Still, you wouldn't be able to see him even if you did look for a while. I was just able to see him 'cause we shinigami have really great eyesight!"

"I'd rather pay the $15 for a pair of binoculars than half of my remaining lifespan," Kaylie said. "OK Hound, what do we do? I can't have this guy following me to where the notebook is hidden."

"Yeah and we don't have the time to mobilise some troops to go after him," Hound II agreed. "You go into the room. I have a plan."

"Alright" said Kaylie and then she walked through the door at the end of the hallway.

"Should I follow her into the room she just went into?" Illicit queried.

"There's no need to endanger yourself like that," Roger responded. "I will have some soldiers keep an eye on all of the exits."

* * *

There were three other doors out of the room and they all led outside. There were also three garage doors out of there which led on to the open road. Sure enough, groups of soldiers were keeping an eye on each entrance, including the one that led out to the hallway.

Each garage door opened and three trucks with tinted windows came out through them all. The soldiers opened fire right away but the bullets were not enough to stop them as they sped past furiously.

* * *

"Three trucks? Are Kaylie and the notebook inside one of those?" Rester asked.

"Whatever happened to not having enough time to mobilise people?" Kaylie asked from inside one of the trucks, sitting in a back seat.

"I didn't mobilise anyone. The trucks are all driving of their own accord," Hound II replied. "The wonders of technology these days."

Kaylie's truck stopped briefly by the door of another building. Hound II came from the doorway and climbed into the truck. It then drove away again as he took a seat beside Kaylie.

"Now we just need to meet up with Olivy and Derek," Hound II said. "More specifically, we have Olivy do some scribbling in that notebook of yours'."

"I'm looking forward to seeing you again" Olivy replied over the transceiver.

"Yeah, we'll see you soon, boss" Derek agreed.

Within moments, however, helicopters, tanks and trucks were all flocking around the vehicle with Kaylie and Hound II inside.

"I guess just going out of the building and into the truck was pretty suspicious," Hound II sighed. "I didn't think they were keeping such sharp eyes on me."

"Well, what are we going to do?" Kaylie asked.

"There's no other way..." Hound II said. "We can't keep fighting."


	30. Grizzly gulp

"We have them," Roger told the headquarters of the Japanese task force and the SPK. "Hound and Kaylie have been surrounded."

"Very good" Iron said.

_'Very bad'_ Quarender thought.

* * *

"If we don't fight, what do we do, chief?" Kaylie asked, sipping a cup of coffee.

"There's not much we _can _do," Hound II said. "We can't win this battle."

He then spoke into his transceiver.

"Squad GH-77, we need some cover to get out of sight" he ordered.

"Yes sir" somebody replied.

* * *

Several jets flew overhead and dropped capsules down around the truck. Gas was released and Hound II and Kaylie drove off under this cover. The soldiers fired blindly into the gas.

* * *

"Damn it, they'll get away..." Volcon seethed.

"Ha, how cowardly! Running away like that!" Sabitha smirked.

"It's not like we've never ran away..." Matsuda said.

* * *

"The surrounding area has all been gassed?" Hound II asked into the transceiver. "Good. Keep at it. There's no way we'll be followed like this."

"So what do we do now?" Kaylie asked.

"We obviously can't kill any of the task force without Olivy being here since she's seen their faces," Hound II answered. "But we can still have her give the names and descriptions. Just in case."

"Then meet up with her at a later date?" Kaylie asked.

"That'd be nice but they've likely got the whole area surrounded now," Hound II said. "Right?"

* * *

"Yeah, that's right," Derek answered. "The branch with me and Olivy is in an area crawling with military. We make any movements and we're toast. We can always hide in the tunnels and use stand-in members of The Pack to keep them from suspecting we're here but we can't get away. Not with the strict interrogations they'll do if they catch us."

* * *

"I figured as much," Hound II sighed. "OK Olivy, give us the names and descriptions of all the members of the SPK and the task force, including Coffee and the other L, Height. We only want to capture and interrogate Height but it will be useful to know all this."

* * *

_'Does he really think I'll sell out Height and Quarender? I can understand his feelings but... I'll have to lie to him,' _Olivy did as she told, or so it seemed. "I don't know which of them is Coffee but... it's probably a woman by the codename of Ven Volcon, real name Ven Atten. Caucasian, long black hair, brown eyes. Looks really stern. Height occasionally uses the alias of Sammy Sabitha but her real name is Sammy Strom. Caucasian, red hair, blue eyes. Wears lighter colours. The commander of the SPK uses the alias of Anthony Rester but his real name is Anthony Carter. He's Caucasian, blond and has blue eyes. Quite a muscle bound guy. As for the rest of the SPK... Garn Guard, real name Garn Grit. He's black, has short hair and is pretty beefy. Ivan Iron, real name Ivan Core. Caucasian, blue eyes, black hair he has tied into a ponytail. Melvin Mitt, real name Melvin Marvel. Caucasian, black, messy hair and blue eyes. Wears glasses. Kan Granite, real name Kan Speckle. He's black and dyed his hair purple..."

"Purple hair, how cool" Kaylie said.

"Isn't it?" Olivy agreed.

"Um, girls?" Hound II asked.

"We don't have to rush this, you know" Kaylie said.

"Yeah, we don't have to rush this" Olivy agreed.

"Can we just save this kind of talk for later? This is serious business" Hound II sighed.

"How boring," Kaylie said. "But fine, I guess."

"Very boring. Anyway... Barry Decken, real name Barry Board. Board as in cardboard, not bored as in Hound makes me bored" Olivy continued.

Kaylie snickered at this and Hound II rubbed his forehead.

"Caucasian, brown hair which is almost shoulder length, blue eyes... and that's all of the SPK," Olivy finished. "There was a Terry Cage who called himself Terry Spyne but he's dead."

"He must be the one who a couple of my boys took care of," Hound II deduced. "Right then, Kaylie's got all the names down on a document. Now just tell us the names of the Japanese task force members."

"Well they're all Japanese so black hair and brown eyes all round. Ide Hideki has these really weird eyes... I guess you could call them intense. His hair's kind of smooth. Matsuda Touta... his hair's not so smooth. Last of all, Yamamoto Junichi. He's got spiky hair and glasses," Olivy listed. "And the other one was Aizawa... I, well..."

"I underst-" Hound II started.

"I killed him. Too bad I didn't kill any others" Olivy finished.

"Oh, uh, yeah," Hound II replied. "Well, not to worry. You've already done well."

"Now where were we, Olivy?" Kaylie asked.

_'It helps for A-Kira and O-Kira to be friends' _Hound II thought with a small smile.

* * *

Elsewhere, in a US military base, a squad leader was not having a good time. In fact, his superior was busy yelling at him.

"So what if there was gas!? Drive right through the gas! These are mass murderers trying to take over the world! We can't mess around! Do you understand!?" he screamed.

"Yes sir!" the squad leader replied.

"Well that's not good enough! I want you to-" the man let out an agonised grunt, his eyes widening in pain and realisation. He fell backwards. A second later, the man he had been yelling at suffered the same fate. Another man came across the bodies moments later, only for him to die as well.

"...and those are all the names and faces I was able to dig up," a spy for The Pack whispered from a nearby corridor, surrounded by corpses. "That should teach them a thing or two, huh?"

* * *

"It sure should," Hound II agreed with a grin, now in a secret base overlooking Kaylie finishing writing names in her Death Note. "Thanks a bunch."

* * *

An 'L' appeared on a wall mounted monitor in the SPK and Japanese task force alliance headquarters.

"Everyone, the military requested to pull out of Los Angeles, as many of their men were killed by Kira" Roger said.

"Oh boy..." Matsuda sighed.

"But I was able to convince them to stay by pointing out that if O-Kira gets away and meets with A-Kira, she could use the eyes to kill even more of them," Roger continued. "We still had several of them watch via satellite or go into hiding though. The forces of The Pack are not to be trifled with if enough branches gather together."

* * *

A while later, Mitt burst out of the infirmary door.

"Everybody! Get in here, Height's awake!" he shouted.

"Wha-!? Really!?" Matsuda said and ran for the infirmary.

_'I knew this would happen but it's still annoying...' _Quarender thought, following him along with the rest of them.

* * *

Everybody surrounded Height's bed, who stared at them vacantly.

"What happened?" she asked. "Last thing I remember... somebody pushed me. Really hard. Did that put me in a coma?"

"That was Mitt..." Iron said. "But he was actually pushing you out of the way of a bullet. It still hit you but if he hadn't done that... I doubt you would have survived."

Height's gaze now only met Mitt, who looked away.

"I kind of just... my body just moved on its own. As soon as I saw that red light on the side of the van..." Mitt explained.

"Thank you..." Height said. "You're a very good friend."

"We all missed you, Height. It's good to have you back" Matsuda smiled.

"Tell me about it! No more sleeping for you, OK? Or I'll scream into your ear until you wake up" Zellogi snapped.

_'I wonder if that was how Ryuzaki stayed awake so long...'_ Matsuda wondered. _'Although I guess only I would get that joke now.'_

"So how long have I been out?" Height asked.

"Well... it's April 25th now," Mitt said. "So about 2 months."

"2 months... well it's better than being out for years or longer," Height replied. "How much have I missed?"

Quarender explained everything that had happened since Height was put into the coma in detail. She then added that there had been no new developments since February 13th.

"We better change that, then" Height said.

* * *

Height was now in the main part of the headquarters, back in her usual clothes.

"Good as new..." she said.

"Height, given the incident with Composer..." Ide uttered. "How much do you suspect Olivy now?"

"She's being used by Kira at the very least" Height said, walking towards her workstation.

_'Still not going to admit it, huh...' _Ide grimaced.

"Nice to be working with you again!" Quarender held out her hand.

"Likewise," Height replied and shook her hand. "Now we can both be L once more."

They released hands and walked separate ways. Quarender glanced back, a vicious glint in her eye. Height smiled to herself and sat down, then got to work on her computer.


	31. Gust

"Now that you're back, here's O-Kira's notebook" Dig said, handing Height Olivy's Death Note.

"Thank you very much," Height replied. "We'll keep it locked in a safe with the notebook W-Kira had. This safe will require a PIN from both Quarender and myself."

_'That sure is a pain but I can always find some other way of opening the safe when I need to' _Quarender thought.

"Well then, I'll be going now," Dig said. "It was nice to see you again, Height."

"You, too," Height agreed. "Take care."

* * *

Later that day, Height was communicating with the military forces around Los Angeles at her workstation.

"Make sure you keep searching every inch of every house, especially those around the tunnel exits. And please be quick about it. The Pack won't sit by for too long" Height said.

* * *

At a much further away workstation, in a certain base of The Pack, Hound II was giving orders to some of his own troops who were at other locations.

"Once every branch has gathered together, wipe out the military patrolling the Los Angeles area," Hound II ordered. "Make sure they pay for opposing The Pack."

* * *

Height stepped into her room, Zellogi in tow. It was filled with stuffed animal toys.

"They're a little less lively than your usual pets" Zellogi commented.

"Yes, it's been a long while since I've looked after a live animal" Height agreed, falling back on to a pile of them.

"Our jobs are pretty much opposites, huh?" Zellogi said, then picked up a few of her teddies.

* * *

"Wow, these are soft" Matsuda heard as he walked past Height's door.

_'Zellogi's voice?' _Matsuda noticed and paused in his walk.

"You aren't used to this, are you?" Height giggled.

_'Whoa! What are they doing in there?' _Matsuda wondered, then started walking again. _'Well, I won't tell anyone about this... Zellogi would write my name in his notebook for sure.'_

* * *

On the 29th of April, Height received a notification from the soldiers in LA.

"We've found a hidden entrance to some underground tunnels in one house" one said.

"Underground tunnels..." Height mused. "That must be where Olivy's hiding. Gather everyone together and enter."

* * *

Soldiers poured into the tunnels, receiving orders from their superiors to split up and head down each one of the tunnels.

Derek was walking around a corner with Olivy when he saw soldiers heading towards him from the other end. He grabbed Olivy by the wrist and pulled her back around the corner.

"Hound! Some soldiers have found us!" he said.

"What!? Why didn't I hear this sooner from the people guarding them?" Hound II seethed.

"They must've took their transceivers or are keeping an eye on them..." Derek said. "And of course, the soldiers all have their faces covered so having the names and faces sent over is out of the question."

"Right, the branches haven't gathered yet. They'll have to go in as things are," Hound II said, then spoke into another transceiver. "Abort the operation involving you meeting up. Every branch, get to the base Olivy and Derek are at, pronto. Their cover's been blown."

The various branches of The Pack were on their way. The branches in LA arrived at their destination quickly but they were unable to put up a fight against the numerous soldiers stationed there and many were shot down.

* * *

"Damn it, when's that back-up getting here!?" Derek almost screamed into the transceiver, having to drag Olivy down another tunnel.

He pulled out some smoke bombs and chucked them down either end of the tunnel.

"They'll definitely have gas masks handy so using tear gas is pointless. But this smoke gives us the advantage, having prior knowledge of the tunnels" Derek said to Olivy.

"When are we going to get out of here? I don't like-" Olivy began, then paused against her will when she was pulled down another tunnel. "-being yanked around like this."

"Shh," Derek whispered. "We can't let them hear our voices."

Derek backed himself against the wall of the tunnel and edged along for what felt like an eternity for Olivy. Finally he stopped. He felt a certain texture on the wall amidst the smoke. But he was too late to act upon this discovery. He felt something prod into his side and realised with a chilling sensation that it was the barrel of a rifle. He threw himself and Olivy out of the way as heard a spurt of gunfire and the sound of shouting soldiers. He felt some regret as Olivy cried out, as he had to take her by surprise to keep her from being shot. He began to clamber to his feet and reached out for Olivy but he heard her distress again as she was seized by a soldier and pulled away in the smoky tunnel. Derek threw himself against the wall, pressed a panel to open a hidden door then quickly went through and silently shut it behind him.

"L, we've caught Olivy" a soldier said, his arm wrapped around her neck.

"Great! Right, make your escape immediately," Height said. "Bring her back here now and get out of there before The Pack's activity gets too hectic. I don't think they're going to be too happy with you!"

* * *

"Hound, they got her..." Derek whispered behind the secret door. "I... there was nothing I could do. I was outnumbered and they were all armed. But I still feel like I..."

"You're right, there was nothing you could do," Hound II agreed. "There's a difference between fighting and committing suicide. Fear not, Derek, we'll get them yet."

* * *

The soldiers flooded out of the house, a secure amount of them surrounding two soldiers holding Olivy captive. She struggled but it was in vain, just as she knew. More members of The Pack were joining the battle and they were gradually shifting the tide of the battle in their favour.

* * *

"No matter what you do, don't kill Olivy," Hound II said to them via transceiver. "Just a little more and you have her."

* * *

"It's like we found her for nothing..." Matsuda sighed. "The soldiers are clearly being outnumbered."

"Still, via the soldiers' cameras, we can see the shinigami attached to Olivy," Ide said. "That clinches it."

"I can't imagine why but she's on Kira's side," Height admitted. "I just hope it's unwillingly..."

"But what are we going to do?" Quarender asked. "At this rate, they really will get her back."

"Oh, that?" Height asked. "Hey, soldier buddies. You've prepared your getaway like we discussed, right?"

* * *

"Yes, we have," one of them said as a jet plane was wheeled out of a nearby garage.

The two soldiers holding Olivy were escorted over to the jet by numerous soldiers and all three of them got inside. They strapped Olivy down securely.

* * *

"Whoa, they had a jet ready?" Matsuda asked.

"But how are they going to take off in the middle of the city?" Quarender asked.

"Oh, this isn't just any old plane," Height said. "It can take off quickly and though I don't like putting Olivy in such a vehicle... it happens to be pretty darn fast when it's in the air, too."

* * *

The jet made its way down the road, picking up speed rapidly before it took off and soared past the rooftops. The Pack could only look up in awe and frustration as it flew out of sight.

* * *

The military withdrew from Los Angeles, its job done. Derek sat in the back seat of a car, being driven to another branch. His forehead was in his hands.

_'I've screwed up big time, haven't I, Billy?' _Derek thought.

* * *

"Noooow what are we going to do?" Kaylie asked Hound II.

"I don't really know..." Hound II admitted, looking down at the floor from his chair. "Coffee's still over there... maybe she can bail Olivy out?"

* * *

Olivy was in a large room filled with large bean bags for sitting, a door leading to a bathroom, a bed and several cupboards and fridges for food. She sat on a bean bag, her head hung low, looking down at the burnt fabric in her hands.

The walls, floor and ceiling were all a bright red colour.

* * *

"Uh, Height..." Ide said. "Isn't this a bit... luxurious for a suspect?"

"Why shouldn't it be?" Height asked. "Any extra hands coming in will have their faces covered and if we come in, she already knows our names, so she won't learn anything. She's already had a complete change of clothes and both her and her teddy have been x-rayed. There's zero chance of her having a scrap of the notebook on her."

"I wouldn't really call that a teddy..." Volcon commented.

"That's because you're boring," Sabitha said. "Look beyond its appearance. Deep down, it's still a teddy."

"Furthermore, she's just a little girl. She can't overpower any of us. And of course, every angle of the room is covered by bugs and cameras" Height continued.

"Well, it's a good thing we know so much about how the powers of the notebook work," Matsuda said. "I'd hate to see anything like how the second Kira was treated again."

"Obviously, we'll press her for every piece of information we can," Height got to her feet. "I'll go in."

"Are you sure about that?" Sabitha asked. "I'd be pissed at you if I was her."

"I'll be fine," Height assured. "Anyway, I've missed her."

* * *

Olivy turned her head at the sound of a door opening. Height stepped into the room.


	32. Reunion

Height shut the door behind her and walked towards Olivy. Olivy looked down, as if she had done something wrong. But Height greeted her with a tight embrace.

"I was so worried," Height said. "I thought I might never see you again."

"So did I," Olivy hugged her back. "I was scared..."

"You're with us now," Height assured, sitting on a bean bag opposite to Olivy. "I tried to make this place as comfortable as I could for you. You always liked red."

* * *

"So lax... this is ridiculous" Ide sighed from the monitoring station.

"No, it's not," Volcon replied. "There's no limit to how many of us can interrogate her. This is just Height's way of doing it. Olivy likes her, so she could end up telling her the truth due to their friendship. And if that doesn't work, you can always use your own methods later, Ide."

* * *

"Now unfortunately Olivy, you're going to have to stay under surveillance like this at all times," Height said. "Our members now suspect you and judging by the shinigami attached to you, you do own a notebook."

"I know..." Olivy replied. "I've always had the shinigami eyes... you know that already. The Pack must have found out somehow and decided to use me. They had me gain ownership of a notebook and kill for them. I'm so glad to be gone from there... I can't believe I was made to do those kinds of things..."

"It's extremely cruel," Height agreed. "We'll punish them for this. Still, others have kept their suspicions against you even after I said you could just be being used. Personally, I haven't thought you'd intentionally kill people for a second."

"I hope they get arrested soon," Olivy said. "They're so mean."

"Your shinigami seems pleasant enough, though," Height replied, looking up at Ryuk. "Hi there, I'm Height."

"I'm Ryuk. Nice to meet you" Ryuk greeted.

"As for how they found out you have the shinigami eyes..." Height continued. "I suspect that somebody among us is a mole. Do you know which?"

"I'm sorry..." Olivy said. "I know that there's a mole but they didn't reveal anything about themselves."

* * *

_'Even lying to her best friend... she's a Kira to the end. She's a useful ally' _Quarender thought.

"If what Olivy says is true, then the mole is a bit of a smarty pants," Sabitha deduced. "So we can rule out Matsuda and Decken, at least."

"Hey!" Matsuda and Decken said in stereo.

"We can rule out you too, Sabitha" Volcon added in a monotone voice.

"Ha! Good one!" Matsuda laughed.

_'Good grief, it's like taking care of kids...' _Guard thought.

* * *

"What about Hound and A-Kira? Do you know where they are?" Height asked.

"They went to a different base... I don't know which. It could be any of them, any where..." Olivy replied.

"That's a shame," Height said "But don't worry. We'll find them."

* * *

_'With Olivy captured, I'm going to have to force the issue,'_ Quarender thought. _'They've all got to die...'_

* * *

"We finally got another message from Coffee" Derek told Hound II inside their base.

"Are we sure it's really from Coffee this time?" Hound II asked.

"The suicide note said 'Nothing can spur us to live any more, no amount of motivation, no amount of coffee. Send in the killers' and an address was on the other side of the note. So yeah, damn sure" Derek replied.

"Ah, so she's getting riskier in her moves. Understandable though," Hound II mused. "Right, we'll send in some of our people to wipe them all out... including Coffee. I was wondering how I could kill her without losing the advantage of her messages but if they're all killed in one fell swoop..."

"Which of our people are you going to pick, Fido?" Kaylie asked, sipping some coffee.

"Let's see..." Hound II said as he clicked a few things on his laptop. "I think this lot should suffice, don't you?"

Kaylie leaned over to look at the list. One name in particular stood out to her-William Scorch. She knew he was a friend of Henry's. Kaylie smirked.

"See something you like?" Cilly asked.

"You bet" Kaylie replied.

* * *

On May 5th, the SPK and Japanese task force headquarters base had its alarms going off and rightfully so, for heavily armed men had broken in.

"Whoa! What the hell's going on?" Decken cried.

"Intruders... it's got to be The Pack," Height said. "We don't stand a chance. We have to get away."

_'Of course you don't stand a chance. There's going to be death today' _Quarender thought.

Everyone hurried down the halls towards where Olivy was being held. Members of The Pack came around the corner but they were intercepted by the troops that the SPK had employed years ago. The Pack was fired at from behind riot shields and the SPK and Japanese task force pressed on.

The sound of an explosion signalled the shift of the battle's tide. The Pack made their way down the hall past mangled corpses and injured parties of the SPK's troops. After taking a moment to ascertain that Olivy wasn't among the group ahead, they fired.

_'They're firing at me, too!? Hound, what the hell are you thinking?'_ Quarender wondered.

"Keep running, all of you" Iron commanded, dashing over to a corpse of one of their troops and grabbing his uzi.

"Iron, what are you doing?" Mitt asked.

"Just go!" Iron retorted, then opened fire on the crowd of members of The Pack.

A few of them fell and it was a long enough distraction for the rest of the SPK and task force to make their escape down a staircase.

"You bastard!" Will growled and shot Iron in the gut with his pistol and then two more times in the chest. Iron fell backwards and hit the floor.

* * *

Height burst through the door, making Olivy jump and grabbed her by the wrist.

"We've got to go. The Pack found us" she said, running out the door again, pulling Olivy along with her.

_'Why must everyone keep pulling me about?'_ Olivy wondered.

* * *

They soon got to the underground garage where a jet was waiting. They got in, with Rester and Guard piloting. A door opened up leading to the surface and the jet went through and took off into the sky.

"What about Iron?" Mitt asked.

"There's no way he survived..." Ide answered. "He's dead."

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Sabitha said "Happy birthday, Volcon."

"Some birthday" Volcon replied, dryly.

"Fine, I'll just shut up," Sabitha responded. _'Geez, is she moping about his death now? We knew there would be deaths from the start. What's her problem?'_

"All is not lost," Height assured and began to speak into a transceiver. "How many of you are you in good condition...? OK, good. Yes, I expected them to... make sure each of them is tailed."

"Eh...?" Matsuda murmured.

"Most of our troops survived. Also, the military is still on our side so long as the risk of Kaylie or someone getting the eyes exists," Height said. "Most importantly, although our little intruders are going in separate directions, our people are now tailing each vehicle... and I'll bet that at least one of them is headed back to the heart of all this."

"Hound himself..." Olivy finished. "And A-Kira, too."

"Bingo. The base with the head honchos themselves," Height confirmed, hitting her palm. "Once we know where they're located, all that's left is arresting them."


	33. Escapism

Quarender was sitting on a chair in the new HQ. Its walls and carpets were blue. Most of the task force was at a work station. But Quarender had her mind on something.

_'Why were they shooting at me? Hadn't Hound given them specific enough orders? No, he's not that stupid. He must have wanted me to be shot at... he must be livid because I killed some of his men. What an idiot... he probably thought it was alright since we were all being attacked at once. In this case, I'll have to be careful of him. Not even my relationship with the first Hound will help here...'_

She turned her attention to the television.

"Among the corpses was a member of the illegal anti-Kira organisation, the Special Provision for Kira or SPK," the male reporter said alongside an image of Iron's face. "His codename was Ivan Iron. If you knew him personally, please get in touch and let us know his real name."

"Poor Iron..." Matsuda said from the sofa.

"I can't believe that people like him are seen as criminals now," Ide commented, standing beside the sofa. "Even the US military is now seen as an 'illegal organisation' for fighting Kira... society's being ruined."

"Things sure are different..." Matsuda agreed. "But don't you think it's just being _more _ruined?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ide asked.

"Society's always been a bad place" Matsuda replied.

"It's been imperfect," Yamamoto said. "But that doesn't condone murder, Matsuda-san."

"I didn't say it did," Matsuda sighed. "Leave this to the professionals, OK?"

"To use murder to change society... is not how things should be" Ide said.

"I didn't expect that we'd be moving about so much," Height said to Olivy. "I'm sorry that you had to leave that room.

"It's fine, Height, really" Olivy assured her. "You're being too nice."

Ide glanced over at them, slightly annoyed.

* * *

Hound II was sitting around in his base when he received an important alert.

"A vehicle matching the description of one picked up by surveillance footage of both the former holding place of Olivy's notebook and the SPK and task force's old headquarters has just been spotted around the area we first found Olivy" he heard.

"The black one, huh?" Hound II mused. "If it's back there, where L was holding an operation to stop W-Kira, which can be deduced by how the pro-Kira deaths stopped soon after the incident... those could be their allies."

"Yeah" came the reply.

"Right, give me a live feed of what they're doing..." Hound II said.

An image of the car parking beside Wammy's House came up on the screen. Hound II narrowed his eyes and smirked.

"That place, huh...?" he mused.

* * *

"So, they split up and went to three different branches," Height said from her workstation. "One on Greenwich street in New York, another in Greenland and one in Ontario, Canada."

"Then it could be any one of them" Matsuda commented.

"I highly doubt it's the one in New York" Height replied.

"Why's that?" Granite asked.

"They split up as a counter measure towards people who could follow them. So if they're going to use decoy branches..." Height explained. "Why use Greenland and Canada? The Pack originated in the US and it's only recently that it's begun to spread the branches around the world. It would be easier to assume that the head of The Pack is in an American branch, one where he's at the heart of the organisation, so to speak... if so, using outlandish decoys like Greenland and Canada won't keep him safe."

"Though he could have assumed that somebody would think that way, so that they wouldn't bother checking out the New York branch very well" Granite said.

"That's taking a gamble. If he was going to be tricky, then I think a branch like the Greenland or Ontario one would be the kind of place he'd stay," Height replied. "Then he'd use New York and the other away-from-home branch as decoys, as one seems normal and one is about as outlandish as the one he's in."

"Ohh... I see..." Matsuda nodded.

"Still, we won't be lax," Height declared. "Yui, inspect the New York branch. Illicit, the Greenland branch."

"Yes" Yui and Illicit said almost simultaneously on two separate windows on her monitor.

"Gyro," Height turned slightly. "Inspect the Ontario branch."

"Alright," Gyro agreed. "I've been waiting to be useful again ever since my wounds healed."

* * *

On May 7th, the College street branch in Winchester was formed by The Pack. The gates of Wammy's House were knocked off their hinges as a multitude of cars drove in.

* * *

"Vera, intruders!" Vera heard from the surveillance team over a microphone as she was in her office.

"Damn it!" Vera emitted her voice to the entirety of Wammy's House. "Everyone evacuate immediately! They've found us!"

* * *

"This is all Composer's fault," Twist grumbled as he and everyone else busted out a back door to the private car park. "If she hadn't had some of us go over there..."

"You're the one who did it voluntarily" Dig sighed from behind his novel.

"This is scary..." Jest said.

"No matter what happens, I'll protect you" Twist promised and grabbed her hand.

"You're not hiding it any more, hm?" Dig asked. "That's the way to go."

Dig then got shot in the leg and fell to the ground.

"Dig!" Vera cried and went back to him.

"Huh...?" Jest was unwilling to keep going towards the helicopter that was starting up.

"Just go!" Vera snapped and took out a handgun. "I'll hold them back all I can..."

Twist got shot in the back and lurched forwards.

"No..." Jest whimpered.

"Get into the helicopter!" Twist pushed Jest over to it and a staff member pulled her in, ignoring her struggling.

Vera fired several times at The Pack members but it didn't get past their body armour.

"Old people... there's something cute about them" George said, then shot Vera a single time in the heart with his own hand gun and she dropped dead.

* * *

Jest watched in horror as the helicopter took off, despite Dig and Twist being seized.

"We have to help them!" she cried.

"That would be suicide," Express said. "Leaving them behind is the right thing to do."

"Express!" Jest whirled around to face her. "How can you say that?"

"I'm only being truthful here," Express replied, sounding bored. "Wammy's kids are supposed to think with their mind. You only think with your emotions, Jest... or perhaps that's in jest and you think with something else, hmm?"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Jest asked, holding back some tears. "You... you were the one who showed me around when I came here and suggested I be called that."

"Because I could tell from the day I met you, Jest..." Express responded. "You're quite fake."

Jest practically leapt at Express but Vow held her back.

"Please! Is this any time to be fighting?" Vow asked. "L must immediately be notified of this disaster!"

"That's right, Vow," Express agreed. "At least one person here can think with their mind a little."

* * *

"Is he going to live?" one of The Pack members dragging Twist to a car asked.

"Who knows?" George asked, prodding Twist's wound with his gun, which was greeted by a scream. "We'll just have to wait and see."

George then grabbed Dig's book.

"You're not here to have fun," George said, then looked at the cover. "A mystery novel, huh? Fancy yourself as a detective, do you?"

Dig just looked at George. George responded by pistol whipping him across the face.

"Answer" George added.

"Yes..." Dig replied quietly, lisping through his cut lip.

* * *

A 'W' buzzed on to the wall mounted monitor.

"Yes, Watari?" Height asked.

"The Pack has taken Twist and Dig hostage," Roger reported. "They say they'll return them unharmed if Height, Volcon and 'the other black haired girl' agree to meet a few members in a certain location."

_'They want to see me...' _Quarender realised. _'And Volcon as well...? Well, Kaylie's seen me and I look similar to Volcon. If she described me, they can't tell us apart from just that.'_

"That's crazy," Matsuda commented. "You're not really going to go, are you?"

"But why do they want Volcon?" Sabitha wondered.

"Height... are you going?" Olivy asked.

Height was looking down. She raised her head.


	34. Swallowed

"Are you serious, Olivy?" Height scoffed.

"Eh..?" Olivy raised an eyebrow.

"Of course I'm going. And that's a promise" Height said.

"I'll go too" Volcon added.

_'It will look suspicious if I don't agree to this... what if they see my face? Kaylie hasn't made the deal for the eyes... can I continue to trust her? Lolly trusted her, with Sliver's secret no less. And I don't see Kaylie as someone who's going to blindly follow Hound's orders... anyway, I still don't know enough about this deal,' _Quarender thought. "I'll go. Now we need more details."

* * *

Hound II watched the 'W' insignia pop up on his monitor.

"All three of the requested people have agreed to the deal," Roger said. "But they would like to know more about it."

"Fantastic. Five of my men will meet them in Manitoba, Canada. I'll send over more precise coordinates..." Hound II explained. "No one may come within 100 feet of the area other than the previously mentioned people. You can inspect the area from afar all you want. The three who come may bring whatever protection they wish, as long as their faces are visible. You may bring one jet, as will our side. The area where the deal will be made will be composed of reinforced glass so you can see everything inside. The deal will take place on the 18th of May at 9 AM."

* * *

Height was in another room, one coloured grey. There was a stream between some rocks which was filled with crocodiles. Height had a bucket filled with cooked fish and she was chucking the contents in.

"Height..." Mitt came into the room then looked into the stream. "...where do you get all these things?"

"There are a lot of people with animals who need looking after," Height explained. "Though of course the orders go through a lot of proxies first... so, what brings you here?"

"Now that you know more details, are you going?" he asked.

"Without a doubt. Even if they see my face... as long as I can save Twist and Dig, it will be OK" Height assured.

"But what if someone with shinigami eyes is watching?" Olivy asked as she came in. "You'll die, Height..."

"That's a risk I'm willing to take," Height replied. "I can always be replaced. Even so, we'll wait for more information from our spies."

* * *

May 15th, Illicit contacted the task force headquarters.

"I overheard Hound and Kaylie talking" he said.

"So they're at the Greenland branch!" Matsuda deduced.

"What did they say?" Volcon asked.

"Kaylie isn't willing to make the deal for the shinigami eyes and she isn't giving up the notebook so someone else can" Illicit reported.

"Then that means Height, Quarender and Volcon can all go safely!" Matsuda said.

"Yes... unless..." Height looked at Olivy. "Did you ever give away our names?"

"No..." Olivy tried not to sweat.

"This is risky, Height... what if she's lying?" Ide asked.

"We should use a lie detector or something..." Yamamoto suggested.

"If she's anything like the original Kira, that won't work" Matsuda said.

"It can't hurt to try" Yamamoto replied.

"You're right, Mr. Yamamoto" Height agreed.

_'I have to fight a lie detector...? But if my daddy could do it... I can't let him down,' _Olivy thought. _'It's simple, I just don't panic. I've had to lie lots already anyway.'_

* * *

After the lie detector interrogation was finished, the lie detector was put away again.

"So she wasn't lying," Yamamoto said. "Or at least is a good liar."

_'There's no way she'd tell them my name... but The Pack are against me so they could have asked for my name... still, she owes her life to me. I should be safe. But if Height and Volcon die but I don't, they'll suspect me... then again, Olivy had the chance to kill Height while she had a scrap of the Death Note and didn't. I can understand not using up space writing names of lackeys but Height is a significant threat...'_ Quarender thought. _'Does that mean she doesn't have it in her to kill Height...?'_

* * *

May 18th, a mountainous region in Munk, Manitoba, Canada. Height, Quarender and Volcon stepped out of their jet, covered in body armour and helmets with reinforced glass in front of their faces. They also had handguns in their pockets. They saw the building of reinforced glass, the entrance of which had steps going down into a tunnel. The five men, as well as the captive Twist and Dig, could be seen through the glass. The three went down the stairs. George was among the five.

"Seems like you did as you were told," George noticed. "Right, you can have 'em."

Twist and Dig were released from the men who were holding their arms and they went hurriedly to the three.

"Let's go then" Volcon said and turned around, the others did the same.

_'I'll be fine... in fact... rather than me dropping dead of a heart attack...'_ Quarender thought as they walked over to their jet.

Volcon grunted in pain and fell on to her back.

"Volcon!" Height cried.

"Damn!" Quarender snarled. _'Knew it... but this is bad, too...'_

* * *

"I wrote Sammy Strom twice, envisioning the faces of both of the other two who's faces were recorded but nothing" Kaylie said as she sat on a desk with the Death Note atop it, Ven Atten written inside.

"That's too bad. But this is good, too. Since only Volcon died, it means Coffee is the other black haired girl..." Hound II deduced. "I recognise her. Katie Smith."

"Katie Smith is just an alias. The Uccisore Kira tried to kill her by writing that name but it didn't work" Kaylie replied.

"So she was there that time, huh?" Hound II asked. "And that was when the original Hound died, too... how sickening. He gave his life by going to save her and she repays him by killing our members. She played him for a fool. Him of all people, Hound, the greatest man who ever lived! Founder of The Pack! If I don't live to see that bitch die, I'll never be satisfied. But... no matter what, L can't know who Coffee is. Because L is the poison that's been keeping the new world from flourishing for about a decade. It can't be assisted."

* * *

Height loaded Volcon's corpse into the back of the jet, staring sadly at it.

"I'm sorry..." she said.

"L, please evacuate immediately. Our radars have picked up an approaching jet" Roger reported.

"What? Another one? What's the meaning of this, Hound?" Height asked.

Before much else could be said, the jet landed and the same team that attacked the old headquarters before came out.

"I swear on my life, I didn't order them here," Hound II replied. "This actually pisses me off."

The team opened fire and Height and Quarender fell back, saved by their body armour. The team then grabbed Twist and Dig, went back into their jet and flew off.

* * *

"Nice going, everyone" Will smirked.

"What's the meaning of this!?" Hound II asked them over transceiver as they flew.

"Change of plan. It's better to keep using them," Will replied. "If you don't like it, it's your fault for being such a crappy leader."


	35. Protection

"Hound, this contradicts what we were both going for, then?" Quarender asked as she piloted the jet, with Height sitting beside her.

"It does. In fact, I'm going to lend you my cooperation on this one," Hound II replied. "No one betrays me like this and gets away with it."

_'I see... so I 'betrayed' him, huh?' _Quarender thought.

"How can you help us?" Height inquired.

"The jet they're using right now is property of The Pack. I can track its movements. When it lands, I'll know where," Hound II answered. "In other words, we can find out where they keep the hostages."

* * *

Height and Quarender were back at their base by the time the 'Ho' insignia appeared on the screen.

"They split into two teams and settled down in two different buildings," Hound II reported. "Now, how to go about this... hm? They're contacting me now. I'll put you through to the ringleader, Will."

"If you come within 100 feet of us, the hostages die," Will threatened. "It's as simple as that."

"This is unbelievable..." Granite uttered.

"It's pretty surprising that they'd rebel like that but people can do amazing things," Sabitha replied. "I knew a 60 year old who took the effort to ski... he wasn't very good at it though."

"That's far less shocking than this" Granite stated.

"You really think so?" Sabitha asked.

A 'Wa' popped up on to another monitor.

"L, Jest and Perci escaped" a Wammy's House carer said.

"The back-up place for them was here in Los Angeles..." Height recalled.

"Do you have any idea where they went?" Quarender asked.

"Wherever they were going, Perci felt the need to rob our personal armoury..." the carer replied.

"Just how much were you slacking off?" Granite inquired. "You let a kid rob you?"

"Well those kids are all pretty crafty" Sabitha explained.

"If he robbed the armoury..." Height mused. "Then there's a good chance that they're..."

"What the hell's this?" Will asked. "You send one kid to each of our bases?"

"How did they find the locations so quickly?" Decken wondered.

"I already made their whereabouts common knowledge to members of The Pack," Hound II explained. "All they had to do was ask around."

"Will, we didn't send them" Quarender said.

"It's fine," Will replied. "The more hostages, the merrier!"

"You bastards" Matsuda seethed.

* * *

Will opened the door to let Perci in.

"What brings you here, young man?" Will asked.

Perci pulled out a handgun and shot Will in the head. He fell down instantly.

* * *

"A gunshot...?" Yamamoto uttered.

"He couldn't have..." Mitt said.

"Will, what was that?" Quarender asked. "Will...?"

"It seems like the one who got shot was actually Will" Guard deduced.

"Damn, it's too risky to just sit back now" Quarender said.

"Agreed. I'm sending in all the forces I can," Hound II replied. "If we don't move now, who knows how they could respond? Besides, Will was the one giving orders. They'll be confused and disorganised for a while..."

* * *

Jest swung open the door, bloodied dagger in hand, covered in wounds. Twist was tied to a chair, with two men beside him.

"Jest!?"

"I'm getting you out of here" Jest told him. "Now be quiet, would you? You're going to call people over with all your talking."

* * *

Perci shot down two more men. One came up behind him ready to shoot but was fired at by other members of The Pack and he went down.

"Good job," one of them told Perci. "You're brave. Maybe stupidly so. We're on your side. Hound, we've found Perci. Dig's also been freed."

"And what about Twist and Jest?" Hound II asked the other team.

* * *

"No sign of them yet..." Height listened intently to the exchange.

"Alright, make one move towards us and they both die" a new voice said "We've got the bitch and the bastard and if you want 'em back, you'll all get out of the building and give us a chance to escape."

"Damn..." Hound II seethed.

"We don't have a choice. Do as they say" Height said.

"Once you're a good distance away, I want one person from your team to bring a helicopter to take the hostages back" they continued.

"It sounds risky..." Decken said.

"I'll go" Rester volunteered.

* * *

The area around the building had been cleared for the surrounding 100 feet and Rester was waiting outside beside a helicopter. Two people burst out of the front door, heavily armoured and wearing tinted glass helmets. They were holding up machine guns, aimed forwards. Rester immediately took out a shotgun and shot them down.

"Two people just ran out, armed..." Rester said. "I don't know why the gangsters tried such a reckless tactic."

He crouched by the body of the first person he shot and took off their helmet. Horror crept on to his face.

"L..."

"What is it, Commander Rester?" Quarender asked.

"The first of the bodies belongs to Jest" he replied.

"They couldn't have..." Height gaped. "And the other body...?"

Rester took off the other helmet.

"It's Twist."

"Those bastards... they must have done something to make them go running out the door after giving them armour and guns" Quarender said.

"Yes, the helmets are so darkly tinted that it's impossible to see through them when wearing them," Rester reported. "And the guns are attached to the armour's gloves."

"In that case, the other two must be planning to make their escape fairly soon..." Hound II uttered.

"Can you stop them?" Rester asked.

"I'll see what I can do" Hound II responded.

"I don't believe this..." Rester put his forehead in his hands.

"You had no way of knowing this would happen, Commander Rester" Quarender said.

"L... please. I'm not fit for the title of 'commander' any longer" Rester responded.

"What are you talking about?" Quarender asked. "It was the third L who gave you that title and he was right to do it."

"Forgive me, L. But he had no way of knowing I'd make a mistake like this. I panicked and shot with the intent to kill. To be honest... I think Guard would be better suited for the position of commander" Rester replied.

A heavily armoured truck burst out of the garage of the building and sped down the road.

"That must be how they're making their escape" Rester said.

The truck exploded.

* * *

"Their eternal escape, yes," Hound II leaned back in his chair. "That truck is property of The Pack. Tracking it isn't the only thing I can do. Well then, that puts an end to our alliance, L..."

"That really was something..." Kaylie commented as Hound II switched off the transceiver.

"It sure was," Hound II agreed. "Who'd have thought those bastards would betray us...?"

_'It only seemed natural to me... from the moment you said you'd send that attack team in to kill Coffee and everyone else, I knew I had to protect Coffee. I wrote their names on a torn out page of the Death Note, mixed up the times of death and had the date of death be the 18__th__ of May, with the cause being gunfights. The conditions were that none of them would be able to shoot Coffee,' _Kaylie looked at her Death Note on the desk. _'I disposed of the page soon after. I had no idea what I wrote would lead to all this... the Death Note's a frightening thing, even when I used it to protect someone.'_


	36. Sneak

Rester walked into the base, past Sabitha who had her cheek in her hand, her elbow on the desk.

"What a day, huh?" she said.

"That's not how I'd put it" Rester replied and took a seat on the sofa. Guard finished his coffee then joined him.

"On second thought, that is putting it a bit lightly. Why'd they have to go and kill Volcon? I loved her grouchy attitude..." Sabitha complained.

"Rester, were you serious?" Guard asked.

"I was. Are you up for it?" Rester responded.

"Of course," Guard accepted. "It feels like a little much to take on though. Especially since it's going against the third L's decision."

"It will grow on you," Rester replied. "Besides, particularly since there's more than one of them... I feel like the new L's reign has more strength behind it."

He glanced at Height and Quarender's backs as they sat at their workstations.

* * *

Later, everyone was gathered around in the seats in the centre of the room.

"We're going to need a lot of people for this," Height said. "Fortunately, we have the military and our own troops on our side. They'll storm Hound's base after gathering together. One branch is no match for them. The Pack is only too strong when its branches gather together. Also, the only things that need to be secured are the notebook, Kaylie Autumn and Hound."

"How exactly are we going to _prove _that Autumn is A-Kira?" Yamamoto asked.

"If we touch her notebook, we'll be able to see the shinigami. And since she intentionally joined The Pack, she couldn't say she was forced to do as they said for any reason," Height replied. "And even if she gives up ownership just in time... we can always trick her into writing in a fake notebook."

_'…! She thought of that even faster than Near did...' _Rester noticed _'Although her conceptualisation power has always been particularly excellent.'_

* * *

On May 25th, the task force headquarters received a message from the soldiers stationed near the Greenland branch of The Pack.

"We're in position, L" a soldier said.

"Alright... move in," Quarender ordered. _'I considered warning Hound of this in advance but they'd likely escape from any back up's that's sent after them... I'm just relying on you to win this, Hound. Either way, I have to make sure that notebook Kaylie took is in a secure position and that Hound is drawn out. He's a threat to me now that he sees me as a traitor.'_

The soldiers made their way across the snowy plain, the three story building looming before them. Members of The Pack shot from the windows but were sniped from afar by other soldiers on a hill.

"I don't think we can take so many of them" Kaylie said to Hound II.

"We don't need to" Hound II pressed a switch revealing a hidden entrance to some underground tunnels.

"We're running away again?" Kayle asked.

"Not at all," Hound II stepped into the tunnels. "We're going to wait."

"Wait?" Kaylie followed him in.

"Yeah, they won't find us before back-up arrives" Hound II replied.

The soldiers burst into the base but most of The Pack had already escaped into the tunnels. While the soldiers searched for them, back-up arrived in multiple jets and poured into the building. Gunfire filled the building and The Pack had soon wiped its opposition out.

* * *

"Do you read me? Is anyone still alive?" Quarender asked.

"I don't believe it..." Height said. "I should have known this was just endangering their lives..."

"We've been endangering our lives from the beginning," Guard replied. "I'm sure they wouldn't blame you at all."

_'They were all killed...' _Olivy thought. _'I never thought I'd have to sacrifice so many innocent people... well, I guess they're not really innocent if they oppose Kira... but this is A-Kira...'_

The Pack members went back to their separate branches, leaving the base deserted.

"Illicit, I realise this is riskier than ever now... but if you feel you can, keep an eye on the base" Height said.

"You don't have to say things like 'if you feel you can'," Illicit replied from his transceiver, in a small cave dug out in a mountain near the Greenland branch. "I'll do everything I can."

* * *

On June 1st, Illicit contacted the headquarters.

"They're back. I managed to get inside" he whispered.

"Right," Height said. "Now Illicit..."

There was the sound of Illicit grunting in pain, then a new voice came through. It was George's.

"Who's this? L?" he asked. "Nah, there's no doubt you're L."

"...yes," Height confirmed, sweating. _'Even if I say I'm not, he'd say to relay a message to L.'_

* * *

"You remember what to say, George?" Hound II asked him over transceiver.

* * *

"I want all of you to come meet us. Else your spy here dies" George threatened.

"...you'll kill him anyway" Height said.

"...wha?" George responded.

"And how am I to know otherwise? You'll just kill us all and you'll have won," Height continued. "You have no reason to keep him alive afterwards... Illicit... I'm sorry that I..."

"No, I understand," Illicit replied. "You always were a thinker, Height. I knew I'd be following your orders some day."

"Are we still able to save him?" Quarender asked, with her transceiver turned off.

"You've made your choice. He dies" George said.

"That answer your question?" Sabitha asked.

"Height, seriously, don't worry abou-" Illicit's voice was cut off by a gunshot.

"Feel free to drop by for your deaths any time" George said, then cut the connection.

There was silence for a while. Height's face sunk into her hands. Mitt hesitated then drew closer to her but he stopped when Olivy got off her seat and hugged her. Height rose her head again, wrapped an arm around Olivy and wiped the tears from her eyes with her other hand.

"They'll pay for that" Height declared.


End file.
